


The Sealgaire and the Dragan

by hunters_retreat



Category: CW Network RPF, Supernatural RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Dragons, M/M, Shapeshifting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-11-18
Updated: 2010-11-18
Packaged: 2018-01-07 13:17:07
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 30,817
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1120258
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hunters_retreat/pseuds/hunters_retreat
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jared Padalecki wanted to be just like everyone else.  A new town, a new school, and only his best friend from high school knew anything about his family.  Life was perfect, especially when he met his new roommate, Jensen Ackles.  Everything was settling in place in Jared's life, up until the day his parents showed up in town, not to cause him trouble, but to remind him of who he was and give him a warning.  What's a guy to do when he's a modern day dragon hunter and there is a dragon to slay?</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Sealgaire and the Dragan

**Author's Note:**

> This was written for the fantasy big bang on live journal. I was blessed to work with an artist and a mixer. You can find deadflower5s amazing artwork [ here](http://deadflowers5.livejournal.com/83371.html#cutid1). The sound mix by inanna_matt and the amazing cover she did for it are [ here](http://inanna-maat.livejournal.com/82880.html).

 

 

 

 

 

The dorms were everything Chad had warned him about, everything he’d raved about, and a little more of everything else.  Jared didn’t know if it was because he was transferring in at the middle of the year, or if it was just because everyone was pretty cool with one another, but the air was jovial and if it hadn’t felt like Christmas time to begin with, Jared would have felt it anyway. 

Okay, so Christmas was over but there was still an air about the place, like the people there liked one another.  They stopped constantly as Chad introduced Jared ‘my best friend from home’ Padalecki to his friends and while Chad tried to get the quick lowdown on everyone’s Christmas.   The hallway was crowded with the general mayhem of students returning from break, running from door to door to catch up on the gossip of the last month.  “Man, how did you get so lucky?”  Chad asked as they started down the hall again.

“Not my fault someone dropped out and left me a great room.”

“Just your luck that you were next on the waiting list.”

Jared smiled.  “Don’t worry Chad, I’m sure you’ll have better luck next year.”

“Speaking of better luck, see you later Jared,” he said as he started to follow a small brunette who had smiled his way.  “Mandy!  Sweetheart, how was your break?”

Jared rolled his eyes.  It wasn’t like he needed his friend to hold his hand as he made his way down the hall to his new room, but it would have been nice to have Chad introduce him to his new roommate.  Being Chad-less would probably make things easier though.  Chad was, well, Chad.  He ‘d heard enough about the guy from Chad before he got in that he knew they got along okay, but getting along with Chad and appreciating him were two different things.  

He walked the short distance down the hall quickly now that Chad wasn’t stopping him at every room to introduce him.  He didn’t let himself hesitate as he approached.  This was his life now, this was his home.  It was just what he’d always wanted, so he opened the door to the suite and smiled into the living area he’d be sharing with his roommate.  There was a TV on one wall and a couch on the opposite side set against a half wall.  A small kitchenette area with a small table was just past that.  The bathroom door was on the left and it looked clean, which he was grateful for.  There was another door past the bathroom and then a third on the back wall.  Chad hadn’t been kidding when he said Jared had lucked out on the room.

He’d had to stay home over the fall quarter and while his application for winter had gone through without a hitch, he’d waited anxiously for dorm space to open.  When he got notification he was relieved but Chad was the one that told him about the suite he was moving into, even if he had shut up completely about his roommate.   He’d requested a room in Buckeye Hall because Chad was there and at least he’d know someone.  Now, he was glad he had.  Most of the dorms were two or three guys to a room.  Jared was in a suite though; he had his own room and just had to share the living space.  A small distinction, but he’d been more than willing to pay the extra for the privacy.

“Hello?”  Both doors were closed and he hoped his roommate was already there.  He needed to go get his things out of the car, but he’d wanted to come up and check things out first.  He took a deep breath as he set his one bag on the couch.

A minute later the door at the end of the room opened and Jared had to bite his lip to keep his mouth from dropping open.  The guy was hot.

His roommate looked at him for a minute, taking in his height, and then shook his head.  “Jared?” he nodded and when the other guy smiled and held his hand out Jared took it.  “Chad said you were coming in today.  I’m Jensen.”

“Good to meet you man,” he said, relaxing as Jensen smiled at him.  It was the eyes, he decided as he let go of Jensen’s hand.  Something in his eyes was captivating.  He wore low riding jeans and a soft blue shirt with bare feet, comfortable and casual which made Jared lose a little more of the tension he was carrying around.

He dropped his hand and nodded to the other closed door.  “This one mine?”

“Yep.  Last guy left it a mess, but I did my best to clean it out.  You aren’t going to be a slob too are you?”

“Is that what happened?” Jared asked with a smile.  “He was a slob so you killed him in his sleep?”

Jensen laughed.  “Nothing so exciting.  He got mono, went home, and decided never to come back.”

Jared opened the door to the other room.  It wasn’t anything grand, but it was his.  The bed sat on one side of the room and there was a built in closet and dresser on the other side.  A desk sat against the far wall and Jared smiled.  “I can do this.”

“Good thing because I’m not swapping.”

He was startled by Jensen’s voice as he stood in the doorway.  He realized how spaced out he was then because the other guy shouldn’t have been able to sneak up on him like that.  “Thanks for cleaning it up for me.”

“No problem.  Seriously, I couldn’t stand the mess in there anyway.  I was here for most of the winter holiday so it only took a few days for me to get antsy and go at it.”

Jared nodded as he looked around, trying to picture what his life, this new life was gonna be like.  As much as Jared was thrilled about being away at school, making this first step was painful as well.  He’d left everything behind today.  He kept thinking, as the time got closer that he’d change his family’s mind, that when the day finally came, they’d relent and tell him he could come home whenever he wanted, that they loved him and supported whatever would make him happy, but it hadn’t happened.  They’d dissuaded him of that notion as he walked out the door, reminding him one last time that if he walked out he was never welcome back home. 

Jensen broke him out of the thought.  “Hey, you got anything else?”

Jared shook his head.  “Um… yeah, I’ve got a few boxes in my car to bring up.”

Jensen smiled as he turned back to his room, grabbing his shoes.  “Cool, I’ll help.”

Jensen was tying his shoes and Jared smiled for a second as he watched.  At least his roommate wasn’t an asshole at first sight like Chad’s had been.  He grabbed his bag from the couch, the one he hoped he never needed, and returned to his room, taking a few minutes to look around.  The bottom of his closet seemed the best place to put it.  People were less likely to look there than if he put it under the bed and the last thing he wanted was anyone seeing what was in that bag.  Hell, he hated having it there, but even if he didn’t like his training, he couldn’t turn his back on it.  If he ever needed the equipment, he would need it immediately and it was better to have it than to let old enemies get the upper hand.

“All ready?”  Jensen asked at the door.

“Yeah.”

“Good.  We’ll get you all settled in and we should be just in time to grab some food.”  Jared went down the hall listening to Jensen and found himself laughing comfortably as they jostled shoulders in the hallways while carrying his things up from the car. 

When he was settled in that night he thought about trying to call home but decided against it.  He was feeling a little homesick but decided to ignore it.  He was the one that wanted out of the family business, the one that had decided to cut the ties, and he had to live with it now.  He lay back on the bed and looked at the wall beside him, raising his hand to let his fingers roll across it softly.  Jensen was in there, having crashed when Chad came over and they started talking about class schedules and Chad’s latest hook up.  He’d been a little sad to see Jensen leave, but as Jensen closed the door, his eyes had sought Jared’s out briefly.  The look Jensen gave him said he was just giving them space and they’d have plenty of time on their own to get to know one another.

He laid his palm to the wall, trying not to think about anything.  Sleep wasn’t coming so he ran through all the calming techniques he knew.  Finally he just started counting sheep, which turned into dogs, which turned into horses, which got eaten by dragons, which got hunted by knights.  His final thought as he drifted off to sleep, scratching absently at the scar on his hip was that one of those days the dragons were gonna get pissed and start hunting back.

 

 

 

  
  
  
"What the hell?" Jared asked as he looked up from the book he was reading on the couch.  The noise in the hallway was normally at a minimum but today it seemed like everyone had gone crazy.  Jensen, his guide to the dorm life, hadn’t been in their room when Jared got back from class and he had no idea what was happening.  He didn't want to be the new kid who asked too many questions though, just wanted to blend in with everyone else so he was stuck in the dark about it.  
  
It was Friday, the first week of class was over and Jared had planned on getting some studying done tonight.  He didn’t know anyone other than Chad or Jensen yet and he hoped to get ahead of his studies early on in the quarter so he didn’t have to worry so much once he made friends.  He shifted, pulling his long legs up onto the couch and leaned back against the arm as he resettled his book in his lap.  
  
When Jensen came in a few minutes later, his hands were full, carrying a box filled with paper bags in his arms.  Jared got up and looked down the hall to see everyone laughing as he shut the door behind his suitemate.  "What's going on?"  
  
"Chad didn't tell you?" Jensen asked as he set the box down on the coffee table.  As he shook his head Jensen smiled.  "It's a tradition.  First Friday of the new quarter."  He pulled a bottle out of the box and handed it to Jared who took the tequila bottle before looking back at Jensen for an explanation.  "Hall crawl dude.  Every one opens their doors and supplies a little beverage for the celebration."  
  
Jensen looked down at the couch and saw the book sitting there where Jared had been studying.  "Oh shit, I assumed Chad told you.  I can just... I’ll just close the door and take this down to the common room."  
  
"Nah, man, don't worry about it,” Jared said with a shake of his head.  “I can always study later."  Jensen gave him a warm smile for his reaction.  
  
"Awesome, and from now on I won't assume Chad's told you anything."  
  
"Good call," Jared said with a smile.  "So...  what do you need help with?"  
  
"Wanna grab some bowls for chips?" Jensen asked.  
  
"Chips?"  
  
"Um... I have some friends in a band and they're bringing their guitars.  They normally play a little..."  
  
He could see that Jensen was nervous and it was cute as hell.  He waited for him to continue.   
  
“Everyone sort of migrates here by the end of the night.  Seriously, I can move down to another room,”  
  
Jared grabbed Jensen’s wrist and smiled.  “Really, don’t worry about it.  Looks like my first dorm party is going to be an awesome one," he said with a grin.  
  
Jensen’s eyes caught on Jared’s hand but Jared didn’t let go.  He wasn’t sure why he was touching his suitemate.  In his family touching someone was almost taboo, the need for physical affection or comfort was looked down on, but Jared had always had to fight that part of himself.  He loved to touch and if it hadn’t been for extremely affectionate friends in high school he wasn’t sure he wouldn’t have disgraced himself in his family’s eye.  Of course, that was before.  He was certainly the disgraced son now.  
  
It felt right though, to offer a little comfort to Jensen who seemed afraid he’d stepped over some sort of bad-roommate line by having a party without telling Jared first.  He could understand the miscommunication though and he wasn’t worried.  Hell, a party was a hell of a lot better than studying, especially since it was right there on their floor where Jared could hopefully get to know the rest of the people living there better, Jensen included.  
  
When Jensen looked away from Jared’s hand his eyes were lit up.  "There you go!  Gotta make it one to remember."  
  
"Just as long as I remember it in the morning."  
  
Jensen laughed as he took the box into the kitchen and began pulling things out of the bags.  "It's supposed to be one to remember, not necessarily one for you to remember."  
  
Jared followed him and reached up to the overhead cabinets and pulled the big plastic bowls out.  At least now he understood why Jensen had those.  He emptied a bag of chips into one, a bag of cheese puffs into another, and a Chex mix into the third.  He set those on the table and then looked at the set up Jensen had on the kitchen counter.  "Wow.  You plan on getting the whole floor drunk?"  
  
Jensen winked.  "Only the kissable ones."  
  
Jared laughed because the last thing Jensen needed to do to get a kiss was get someone drunk.  He'd never seen so many people stop and just look at anyone as much as they did with Jensen.  
  
"Hey!  Shot glasses!"  Jared caught the bag that was thrown at his head and flipped Chad off as he strolled in.  Jared looked at the bag in his hand that was full of plastic shot glasses and handed them over to Jensen.    
  
"Thanks man!" Jensen said as he took them.  "You got anything else or you mooching tonight?"  
  
"My door will be opened to only a select few, the two of you being some of the select."  
  
"Meaning..."  
  
"Smoke 'em if you got 'em," he said, walking back out.  
  
"And here I thought your impressive shot glass collection was going to get put to use." Jared said, thinking of the collection of glasses that adorned a whole shelf in the kitchen.  
  
Jensen laughed again, his mood seemed to be infectious and Jared couldn't help but feel more and more excited about everything.  "Nah man.  I used to bring them all out but it took way too long to clean them.  And after Chad broke my favorite one at the last Hall Crawl I told him he had to supply the shot glasses this time."  
  
"Smart man."  
  
"Oh before I forget, do you have the key to your bedroom?"  Jensen asked.  
  
"I have it somewhere."  
  
"You might want to find it."  
  
"Why?"  
  
"Your call, but unless you want to walk in and find someone naked in your bed, it's easier to just lock it up."  
  
Jared looked at Jensen for a second and his suitemate blushed.  "Wait, did you walk in on someone having sex in your bed, or were they there waiting for you?"  
  
Jensen's blush deepened.  "Waiting."  
  
"How many times?"  
  
"Too many."  
  
Jared laughed as he wrapped an arm around Jensen's shoulder.  "Don't worry man, I’ll save you from the scary naked girls who throw themselves at you."  
  
Jensen rolled his eyes but one hand came up on Jared's hip and squeezed him for a second before he let go.  "Now you sound like Chad, stop before I get creeped out."  


 

 

 

  
  
  
"Jenny baby!"  Their door was thrown open and Jared watched Jensen roll his eyes as he got up from the couch and grabbed the black case that was all Jared could see of their company.  
  
"Got it," Jensen said as he pulled the guitar case into the room.  
  
"Good.  Steve got caught in the hallway and I wanted to get everything set in the corner before things got wild."  
  
"Chris, this is my new suitemate Jared."  
  
Jared held his hand out and smiled at the other guy.  He had long hair, piercing blue eyes and a warm smile that looked like southern charm.  Chris took his hand and shook it, then looked back at Jensen.  "They gave you a freshman?"  
  
"He's only been here a week and I like him Chris.  Don't scare him off or they'll probably give me some psycho for running people off too fast."  
  
"A week?"  Chris asked.  When Jared nodded, he smiled.  "So this would be your first Hall Crawl?"  
  
"Yep."  
  
Chris opened the door and ran out, coming back a minute later with another guy.  "Steve, Jared."  They shook hands and Jensen had four shots already waiting on the table, in his real shot glasses.  "This is for Jared's first Hall Crawl.  May you remember it always, may you not pop a blood vessel throwing up in the morning, and may you wake up in the bed you really wanted to be in."  
  
The four of them clinked glasses and downed the tequila, lemons at the ready to chase it down.  Jared was a big guy so it wouldn't hit him as quickly as some, but he also wasn't a heavy drinker so he knew he had to pace himself for the night.  
  
They handed the shot glasses to Jensen who washed them up and put them away before the Crawl could start and then Chris was putting Jared to work, moving their sparse furniture around to give them an impromptu stage area.  Jensen came out of his room with an impressive amount of overly large pillows and Jared had a beanbag he'd brought from home.  It gave them a little more seating in the room for anyone who wanted to stop in for a while.  
  
Jensen took two pieces of paper and wrote their names on them with an arrow pointing down and taped them to the wall above the couch.  Jared saw it as he came out of his room and locked the door, a smile on his face.  "Claiming your side of the couch?"  
  
Jensen shook his head.  "Making sure we have a place to sit later.  Trust me; you don't know these heathens like I do.  You'll be grateful before the night’s over."  
  
  
  
  
Chris and Steve had barely started playing before people started showing up.  The first thing Jared realized was that each group that filtered in brought a couple extra glasses of what they were drinking to hand off to Jared and Jensen, a sort of tribute for having music in their suite, and a couple for the men playing as well.  The second thing he noticed was that people continued in and out the whole time, some setting up to stay for a while, where others came in, talked a few minutes and left.  
  
"Come on,” Jensen said, a few hours into it.  “Chris has it under control; let’s see where the goodies are."  Jensen spoke close to his ear to be heard over the music and then pushed him towards the door.  Jared let himself be led and Jensen smiled as they got into the hallway.   
  
"The goodies?" He’d been having a really good time in their room, watching his new friends and getting to talk to people a little as they came in, but he’d been curious about what was happening in the rest of the hall too.  
  
Jensen laughed.  "Oh, you have so much to learn young one."  
  
They walked into the room next door and Jensen grabbed two drinks for them.  The glasses weren't full but considering how much Jared had already had he was grateful.  "Kamikaze,” Jensen said with a grin.  
  
Jared took a sip and made a face.  "Damn."  
  
Jensen laughed, "Thus the half cup."  
  
They talked to the people in the first room for a few minutes, Jensen reminding them to stop over to see Chris and Steve before finishing their drinks and moving on.  They made it to the end of the hall before Jared grabbed Jensen by the arm.  "Need some water man or I’m gonna die tomorrow.  Or... you know... just start throwing up on everyone in our room later."  
  
Jensen laughed.  "Come on, we’ll go see Chad.  He’ll have some in there."  
  
Jensen didn't bother knocking, just opened the door and walked in.  The room was dark and the music that played through he speakers was mellow.  "Hey man!  You guys finally made it."  
  
"Water, stat!"  Jensen shouted out.  
  
Chad threw him two bottles and Jensen, who had drunk his share of alcohol as well, almost dropped one of them.  Jared found it hysterical and had to grab hold of the other man to stay upright.  That was until Jensen shifted and knocked them both onto Chad's bed.  "Water!  You promised water."   
  
Jensen opened the first bottle and handed it to Jared who downed it in one go.  Jensen watched with wide eyes, something in them that Jared couldn’t place.  Jensen just handed him the second bottle.  Jared smiled at him and took it, drinking it more slowly.  
  
Chad threw another bottle to Jensen and then they were relaxing.  He didn't know how long they were there, but it was comfortable, lying sideways on the bed with Jensen, talking to Chad and the others in the room.  A joint was passed around and Jensen handed it over to Jared.  Jared looked at him for a second but Chad answered for him.   
  
 "Jensen only shot-guns," Chad said as if that should mean something to him.   
  
"What?"  
  
"He won't smoke a joint unless it's shot-gunned."  
  
Jared looked at Jensen, his fuzzy logic was fairly simple.  If he was doing something, Jensen should be doing it too.  "You don't wanna?"  He asked.  
  
"Chad had it right."  He said, his smile was lethargic though, soft and slow and Jared shifted a little closer, his shoulder resting more firmly on Jensen's.  
  
"What's shot-gunned?"  
  
Jensen bit his lower lip.  "Jesus, Jared.  Promise me you aren't going to go to any parties without me.  God knows what you'd get yourself into."  
  
"What's shot-gunned?" he asked again.  Jensen’s smile was sweet and part of him wanted to trace it with his fingers but that would have required him to move and he was happy where he was, staring at Jensen, leaning up against him.  
  
"I'll tell you when you're sober, alright?  Ask me tomorrow and I’ll tell you."  
  
Jared thought about protesting but then Chad took the joint from him and Jensen leaned closer.  "We should go check on our room.  Make sure no one took off with the furniture."   
  
Jared nodded and they stumbled up together before making it down the hall.  The occupants of their couch vacated when they came in and then they were relaxing again.  The water had cleared Jared’s head a little, enough that he didn't feel like he'd be sick in the morning so he felt himself settle into the couch cushions.   
  
"Passing out on me?"  
  
Jared realized he was slumped down pretty far, leaning heavily into Jensen.  "Nope, just getting comfy for the show."  
  
"Aren't you awfully big for a light weight?"  
  
"Aren't you awfully big for a princess?"  
  
He got a smack to the thigh and yelped at it, but when he settled back down, Jensen threw his arm over the back of the couch and Jared had an easier time of relaxing against his suitemate.  
  
  
  
  
"Done.  Time to crash," Jensen said with a sigh as Steve and Chris left.  They could still hear noise in some of the rooms but theirs had cleared out, with the exception of two people crashed out on the pillows.    "You have a good time Jared?"  
  
Jared knew his smile was goofy but he didn't care.  "Yep.  Don't know what the last guy was thinking.  You're like the best suitemate ever."  
  
Jensen laughed as he unlocked his bedroom door and opened it.  "Nite Jared."  
  
"Nite."  
  
Jensen gave him one last look and a fond shake of his head before he went in and closed the door between them.  Which was when Jared realized that he had no idea where his key was.  He remembered locking his bedroom door and putting the key in his pocket but it wasn't there anymore.  He looked around the room, trying to find it but without success.  He thought maybe it was in Chad's room, but last he'd looked Chad had some half naked woman in his bed and he wasn't about to intrude on that.  
  
He was tired and still more than half drunk so the choice was really obvious.  He opened the other door slowly and smiled at Jensen as he walked in.  Jensen was already in bed but he sat up on one elbow, eyeing him as Jared pulled his shirt over his head and stripped down to his boxers.  
  
"Jared?"  His voice was amused as he watched Jared crawl up on his bed.  
  
"Locked my room."  
  
"Yeah."  
  
"Need the key."  
  
"So where did you put it?"  
  
"Lost it.  I'll look in the morning."  He said, sliding up between Jensen and the wall.  He got himself under the covers and wrapped an arm around Jensen's waist, pulling him close.  "Nite Jen."  He said softly.  
  
Jensen laughed as he shook his head.  "Never letting you live this one down, Jared."  
  
"So long as you let me sleep now, s'okay."  
  
When he felt Jensen wrap an arm around him, he gave a happy sigh and settled in for the night.  
  


 

 

 

  
  
  
It never got mentioned after the next day.  In the morning Jared realized he'd looked in the wrong pocket for his keys and apologized to Jensen, who was drinking his morning coffee, looking more awake than Jared had ever seen him.   Jensen teased him that first morning but it was just between them and it died that day.  
  
They didn't mention it when Jared crawled into bed with Jensen at the Hall Crawl the week before Spring Break or the one that happened the first week back from break either.  It seemed an inevitable thing between them.  Jared locked his room, lost his key or couldn't remember where it was, so he'd crawl in with Jensen, holding tight and feeling safe there.  
  
No one mentioned how affectionate they were with one another but Jared knew that he was overly fond of touching people.  While he’d curtailed it mostly when he was younger, he’d always indulged with the few people that allowed him too.  Here he couldn’t reel it back in and Jensen seemed to enjoy the touch, even though he rarely reached out to touch other people.  When he would lean against Jared or reach out to get his attention, it always made Jared think he was something special for it, that it was just him that Jensen wanted to touch.  It didn't make sense in his head, but he lived by his heart and it made perfect sense there somehow.  
  
Finals were coming up a few weeks after spring break and Jared was going crazy from the stress.  Apart from the Hall Crawl, he'd excused himself anytime someone came to talk to Jensen and gone to his bedroom or to the common room down the hall so he could get the quiet he needed for studying.  
  
"Anti-social much?"  Chad asked as he poked his head into the common room.  
  
A group of their friends had all come in to relax and Jared had just grabbed his books and left without saying anything.  He wasn't trying to be rude but he needed to prove to himself that he'd made the right choice.  
  
"Hey man, just studying."  
  
"Jared, I don't think it's possible for you to fail."  
  
Jared shook his head, his smile tight.  "I know.  I just... I need to do this okay.  I need to get this under my belt."  
  
Chad nodded.  "Alright, but it's just one quarter Jared."  
  
"No, it's not.  I can't go back Chad," he said softly.  They'd never talked about it, the fact that Jared hadn’t gone home for spring break or for a single weekend since he'd come to school.  
  
"What do you mean?"  
  
"I just... my family didn't want me to go to school.  I can't go back home now, Chad.  I was cut off from my family for doing this.  I can't take it for granted."  
  
Chad sat heavily on the chair across from him.  "Man, you didn't say anything."  
  
Jared looked up and shook his head.  "Look, I don't want to talk about it.  I just... I wasn't trying to be rude.  I just have to do this.  I need to ace this, to prove it to myself if nothing else."  
  
Chad nodded.  "Alright.  You know, I’m still here right?" he said, clapping a hand on Jared's shoulder, “if you need me."  
  
Jared gave his friend a tired smile.  "I know.  Thanks.  Just... let me get through this first set of tests and we're golden."  
  
Chad nodded, and then left him alone.  
  
A couple of hours later he was done studying and went back to his room.  Jared was too stressed to sleep but he knew he needed to.  He was in bed, eyes closed, but nothing helped.  None of the techniques were working again.  It seemed they were just fine for hunting trips with his family, for honing his skills and being one with a weapon but they weren’t worth shit when it came to exams.  He had an inkling of what he might be able to do but he didn't have an excuse for it this time, and didn't know if he could ask for this when he wasn't drunk.  
  
Apparently exhaustion was enough of a catalyst though, because he found himself stumbling out of bed and opening Jensen's door slowly.  He knew Jensen dated a lot, seemed to have no preference whether it was men or women, but there was never anyone he brought back to their room and Jared had always been grateful for that.  It was a safe zone for them.  He could handle the parties and their friends in and out, but strangers like that would have been uncomfortable for him.  
  
He crawled up on the bed and settled into the blankets, curling up around Jensen's back.  
  
"Jared?"  
  
Jensen turned around and looked at him.  He'd never done that before, but then again Jared had never crawled in bed like this when he hadn't locked himself out of his room.  
  
"Couldn't sleep," he said softly, "I just..."  
  
Jensen gave him a tired smile.  "Go to sleep, Jared."  
  
Jared nodded as Jensen pushed on his shoulders, making him lay back on the bed before letting his head rest on Jared's chest.  The bed wasn't big enough for this really, but it was that or spooning and Jensen was apparently sick of being the little spoon.  
  
He wrapped an arm around Jensen's shoulder and felt Jensen's hand rest on his chest.  Letting out a sigh, he felt sleep starting to call him already.  
  
"Feel safe here," he said softly.  He didn't know why he said it.  Well, he did but it wasn't something he wanted to talk about, didn't want to explain how his family had been about constant vigilance and reminding yourself that you were never safe.  
  
He felt Jensen's lips curve into a smile against his skin.  "Me too."  
  
He was just drifting off to sleep when Jensen whispered into his skin.  "Gonna do great, Jay.  I know you will."  
  
With Jensen's vote of confidence ringing in his ears, he finally fell asleep.  
  
  


 

 

 

  
  
  
On the final day, after the testing was over, there was another Hall Crawl.  Jared was more than ready for it.  He felt he’d done well on all his finals and he knew that his floor mates were just as ready for this as he was.  Hell, they were really just looking for an excuse to throw a party anyway.  Any excuse to celebrate was used, from good grades to a hot date to birthdays and taco day in the cafeteria.  They were lucky that most of the people on their floor got along well and there was a good mix of upper and underclassmen to make it interesting.  Jared was avoiding alcohol, besides the obligatory shots with his suitemate for having finished his first quarter, because he knew as exhausted as he was he wasn't going to be able to handle the liquor well.  Except for the first night at the beginning of exam week when he'd crawled into Jensen's bed, he hadn't slept well at all.  
  
So he'd kept mostly to water and while he was feeling relaxed from the couple of shots earlier, he wasn't drunk this time when they made their way to Chad's room.  They took up position on the bed which seemed to be their reserved spot now.  Everyone was settled into their own conversations, Jared and Jensen talking about the chance of Steve and Chris getting some local gigs over the next quarter.  The lights were off except for Christmas lights that Chad had put up on the walls and refused to take down.  He claimed it was mood lighting but they all agreed he was just lazy.  It made the mellow music more intimate though and Jared found himself drawing closer and closer to Jensen.  He felt a hand on his leg and looked down at the joint being passed around.  
  
He took a hit and let his head fall back against the wall.  He took a second hit and was about to pass it off before he remembered his first Hall Crawl.  He was normally too drunk to think about it by the time they got to Chad's room.  "You want?"  
  
Jensen looked at him with an odd smile on his face.  "I only shotgun, remember."  
  
"Yeah I remember.  You never did tell me what it was."  
  
"You never asked."  
  
"I'm asking now."  
  
Jensen's smile grew.  "It's when one person takes the hit, holds the smoke in their mouth, then passes the smoke to another person."  
  
Jared thought about it for a second.  "So it's just a stoner's excuse to kiss someone."  
  
Jensen laughed.  "Pretty much."  
  
Jared took a deep breath.  He knew they'd been building up to this all quarter, since that night when he'd first crawled into Jensen's bed, but his heart was still pounding.  Jensen was watching him, not expectantly, but shyly.  
  
"You want?" he asked again.  
  
Jensen let out a shaky laugh.  "Hell yeah."  
  
Jared brought the joint to his lips and pulled the smoke in.  He'd never done this before but he was more focused on Jensen than anything else.  He leaned in and then Jensen was opening his lips under his, breathing in the smoke.  Jared brushed his lips lightly over Jensen's until his suitemate's tongue slipped softly into his mouth.  He felt Jensen's hand pulling them closer.  When they broke apart he dropped his forehead to Jensen's, resting it there.  
  
"One more time?" Jensen asked, his eyes lighting up as Jared laughed.  
  
He didn't respond.  Instead he took the next hit.  He didn't have time to lean over into Jensen though because Jensen was suddenly straddling Jared's hips and leaning down, taking the smoke from his lips without hesitation.  He was vaguely aware of the others making a commotion, aware that someone had taken the joint from him, but he couldn’t concentrate on anything more than Jensen in his lap, Jensen pushing him back against the wall and his demanding lips.  
  
"Fuck," Jensen said as they broke apart that time.  Jared laughed lightly as he leaned his head into Jensen's shoulder, feeling the words as they vibrated against his chest.  "A little privacy maybe?"  
  
Jared couldn't agree more.  Jensen got up and offered a hand to help him up.  He knew he looked a little shell shocked, but he couldn't help it.  He'd never done anything like this.  It was terrifying and exciting at the same time.  He didn't know how much of that showed but then Jensen's hand was cupping his cheek and he leaned in.  "Okay, Jay?"  
  
He nodded.  "Yeah, I’m okay."  
  
"Holy hell!" Chad said loudly.  They all looked over at him and he was staring up at Jared and Jensen.  "Tell me that wasn't the first?"  
  
Jensen blushed but Jared just looked back at Chad.  "First what?"  
  
"First kiss."  
  
Jared lowered his head slightly, but there was no denying it had happened.  "Um ... yeah."  
  
"Shit.  We were all wrong."  
  
"Do we want to know about what?" Jensen asked.  
  
"We all thought you were fucking since the first Hall Crawl."  
  
"God, I didn't want to know that,” Jensen said with a loud sigh.  
  
Jared grabbed his hand and pulled him towards the hall.  "Let's get out before he tells us anything else we don't want to know."  
  
Jensen agreed, but they only made it a few steps into the hall before he was stopping to push Jared up against the wall to kiss him.  Jared let himself be pushed, loved the way Jensen was so demanding and yet he seemed to be reading Jared, giving him what he needed as well.  
  
It took ten minutes to get down the short hallway to their room which was completely full as Chris and Steve played.  "Fuck!"  Jensen said as they walked in.  
  
"What?"  
  
"My room key is in the drawer behind Chris.  No way can I get to it right now."  
  
Jared smiled as he pulled the key to his room out of his pocket.  "Good thing I have mine."  
  
"Finally got you to bed before you were too drunk to lose your keys?"  
  
Jared leaned close.  "Or just didn't need a reason to pretend to lose them tonight."  
  
Jensen's face lit up and for a minute he could feel the heat rising behind his eyes.  "Let's go then."  
  
Jared tried not to make a production of it, but the suite was full of their friends and as he unlocked his room, he heard the catcalls and whistles as the door closed behind them.  "Think we're ever gonna hear the end of this?"  
  
"Depends on how noisy you are in bed," Jensen said, his hands working up under Jared's shirt to pull it off.  
  
Jared moaned into the touch, trying to figure out why he hadn't done this weeks, months ago.  He had no answer so instead he watched as Jensen pulled his tee shirt off before attacking his mouth.  He was surprised to feel Jensen's hands on his belt, pulling and tugging until the denim was resting loose at his waist.  
  
"Jen," he pushed the other man towards the bed until they were falling on top of it.  
  
Jensen laughed as Jared landed over him, arms catching him so that he hovered slightly over Jensen.  "Impatient?"  
  
"Maybe I should have just done this that first night," Jared said, leaning over to nuzzle the skin just underneath Jensen's ear.  "Would you have let me?" he asked.  "That first time I crawled into your bed?"  
  
Jared kissed the skin right there, followed it down to Jensen's collarbone.  "Damn... yes," he swore softly as his hands began pushing at Jared's pants.  "Wanted you the minute I saw you standing in my room, knew Chad had kept quiet about you for a reason."  
  
"Oh yeah?" he asked helping Jensen get rid of his pants.  They turned to Jensen's then, both pulling and pushing and getting in each other’s way.  
  
"Yeah.  Talked all fall quarter about you and as soon as he found out you were moving in with me he clammed up, wouldn’t even show me a picture of you."  
  
Jared laughed as they managed to get both of them naked and side by side on the bed.  "Did the same to me," he admitted.  "Called me all the time to talk about the college life and then as soon as I got in, he clammed up."  He brushed his lips over Jensen's neck, "Sick fucker.  Probably had bets on how quick this was gonna happen."  
  
"So I’m your type?" Jensen asked as he pulled Jared in for a kiss.  
  
Jared sat up and looked down at Jensen.  "Jesus Jen, look at you.  How could you not be anyone's type?"  
  
"Does that make me the slut or you?" There was a smile on Jensen's face though so Jared knew he hadn't taken the teasing the wrong way.  
  
"Shut up and fuck me already," he said as he leaned back down to kiss Jensen.  
  
He didn't have time to think before Jensen was flipping them over.  He didn't know why he was asking for this, why he'd always assumed this was how it would be, but he did and he couldn't help it.  There was something about Jensen, the way he took care of him, that made him want to be vulnerable to him.  He'd spent his life being self-sufficient; his family always more concerned with toughing it out than soothing one another.  Jensen was comfort and care though, he was affectionate and giving and underneath that was something like steel that let him give what he could and take what he needed back.  
  
Jensen bit at his neck softly, and then worked his way down Jared's body.  He worked him open quickly, his fingers gliding over flesh and Jared barely remembered to pull Jensen’s hands away before he touched his scarred hip.  He wouldn't know what it was, wouldn't understand and Jared didn't want to have to explain it.  
  
When Jensen pressed into his body, he caught his breath.  Jensen was above him, beautiful eyes closed as he lowered his head, licking his way into Jared's mouth.  He could feel every movement between them, felt like he could feel Jensen in his head, knew what his lover needed, and how to be everything he wanted.  He let that take over, felt himself relax more into Jensen's hands, let him dominate and mark him with soft sucks of skin and hard biting kisses.  
  
When Jensen wrapped his fingers around Jared's cock it felt like the air in the room was suddenly still, that the whole world had stopped in that moment.  When he came, he knew it was with Jensen, felt his lover's body trembling with release inside him.  
  
They didn't move for a few minutes, Jensen's arms shaking as he held himself up and then Jared was wrapping his arms around him, pulling him close.  He kissed Jensen's face, his closed eyelids, his lips, his cheeks.  As Jensen pulled out of his body he felt empty, but then the other man was kissing him again.  
  
When Jensen finally settled against him, hand trailing idly over Jared's chest, he wrapped him up close.  "Not letting you out of bed ever again after that," Jared said softly.  
  
Jensen laughed softly as sleep came for him.  "Best mate ever."  
  
The words felt like a splash of cold water, waking Jared up with a warning that he didn't want to think about.  It was coincidence that was all, Jensen just shortening suitemates because of the stress of the last week, the alcohol and drugs, and the sex.  He could understand the slip.  
  
He leaned down and kissed Jensen's temple, holding him a little closer.  It was nothing.  He was done with that business and he had to stop looking for signs at every turn.  When he closed his eyes, he listened to Jensen's breathing, felt the soft rise and fall of his chest, and soon fell asleep.  By morning, he'd forgotten his concern entirely.  
  
  


 

 

 

  
  
  
  
  
He woke to soft lips on his own and a hunger he wasn't accustomed to first thing in the morning.  The feel of Jensen against him though was enough to explain that and he opened to his lover, letting him push his way into his mouth, his body rubbing over Jared's as he leaned forward.  Jared moaned into his mouth, his hands coming around Jensen's waist and pulling him closer.  
  
It wasn't the urgent, playfulness that had filled him the night before, but the slow, soft calm of morning.  Jensen thrust against him, his cock riding against his stomach and Jared rolled his own hips up, feeling their bodies collide.  It was a rush, the feeling of oneness this gave him and he brought a hand up to Jensen's neck, pulling him in for a deeper kiss.  
  
Jensen laughed softly into his mouth and Jared couldn't help but break the kiss to smile.  "Morn-” his words were interrupted as Jensen's thrust brought their bodies together.  “Fuck,” Reaching down with one hand, Jared wrapped his long fingers around them both, stroking and thrusting against Jensen.  
  
It was a slow build and when he came it seemed to last forever, his body spilling over them both, Jensen's come adding to his own, pooling on his stomach and hip.  Jensen slid onto his side, pulling Jared with him, continuing to kiss him until both their bodies had stopped trembling.  
  
"Morning," Jensen said with a grin.  "Wasn't that what you were trying to say earlier?"  
  
Jared laughed.  "More than you managed to get out," he pulled Jensen against him, closing his eyes to the world as he relaxed a little longer.  
  
"You need to relax more," Jensen said softly.  
  
Jared smiled.  "All relaxed now."  
  
"Yeah, but don't think you can steal into my room every night for finals next quarter."  
  
Jared ran his hand down Jensen's side.  "Gonna do it every night now.  You're screwed."  
  
"Completely," he raised his head for a kiss but stopped half way there.  Jared felt the fingers moving over his skin and knew it was too late, though he caught Jensen's hand and pulled it away all the same.  He'd already touched the scar and Jared closed his eyes softly.  Jensen sat up, pulling his hand away and pushing the blankets back.  "What is that?"  He asked, staring at the scar that covered his right hip.  
  
The scar was a jagged line but for someone like Jared, it was perfectly clear.  Not jagged, but teeth marks, clear definition if you knew what it was.  He didn't say anything at first, didn't know how to explain it.  He'd never had to.  His life had never given him many opportunities for long term relationships.  "It's... nothing, just an old scar."  
  
Jensen traced it with shaking fingers.  "How did you get this?" When he looked up at Jared there was something wary in his eyes.  
  
Jared sighed.  "My family hunts.  I was stupid and went with them when I was younger and I got hurt.  It doesn't really bother me, but I don't like to show it off."  
  
"What were you hunting?"  
  
The question made him uncomfortable, the secret his family had carried since its long trek over the ocean to the New World felt heavier suddenly, but he knew he couldn't answer with the truth.  Jensen would never believe him anyway.  "Grisly bear."  
  
Jensen was out of the bed a second later, pulling on his clothes from the night before.  "I need to get out of here," he said without looking at Jared.  
  
Jared sat up on the edge of the bed.  "Jen, what's going on?" The other man didn't answer and it just made Jared worry even more.  Jensen's movements were jerky and unstable, unlike his normal graceful self.  "Jensen?" He got up and grabbed Jensen who flinched at the touch.  "Jen?  Please, talk to me."  
  
Jensen took a deep breath as he looked up at him.  "I need to get out, Jared.  Please... just... I’ll be back but let me get out now.  Let me think."  
  
There was desperation in his words and something that sounded like fear.  He stepped away, ashamed that he'd frightened Jensen, that his physical hold on him had made him fearful.  Jensen didn't say anything else as he ran from the room; and Jared let him go.  
  
He lay back on his bed, trying to remember if Jensen had ever said anything against hunting.  He couldn’t remember it if he had.  There was no doubt it was about his scar though.  He traced a finger over it, the rough texture softer now than it had once been.  He thought back to the day he'd won that mark, the day that had set him on his current course.  He should be dead.  If everything the elders taught was right, then he'd be dead by the creature's jaws.  He wasn't though.  He'd fought to defend his family like the rest, but when the _dragan_ had the chance to rip him to shreds, it hadn't.  It had defended itself, bit Jared hard enough to cripple him momentarily, before flying off a _dragan_ child in its claws.  
  
He'd been little more than a boy himself, caught in the world his family wanted him to be a part of, something he'd never wanted to be.  That moment though, watching the Queen protect the child, watching the _dragan_ child as it looked curiously back at him, eyes scared even under the draconic green, he'd vowed to end his hunting days.  
  
It'd taken years, but he'd finally walked away from his family.  He'd built a life here at school, burying himself in classes and friends and never looked back.  He'd never once thought his old life could intrude and hurt him here.  Only now it had, and he didn't even know why.

 

 

 

Jared answered the door to the dorm and wished he'd stayed in bed.  Three days and he'd yet to see Jensen.  He couldn't remember Jensen mentioning going home for the two week break between quarters, but that didn't mean anything.  Jared never pushed about Jensen's plans because he'd never wanted Jensen to push back and find out that he never went anywhere.  It was bad enough that Chad knew he didn't have a family to go home too, let alone the others.  He didn't want anyone to feel sorry for him, but beyond that, he didn't want anyone to ask why.  
  
The door banged open and Jared was startled from his thoughts.  "What the hell did you do boy?" Chris glared at Jared as he pushed the door closed behind him.  
  
Jared didn't have the energy to be pissed.  "How the hell would I know?" he asked.  He didn't need to ask why Chris was there.  As close as he had grown to Chris, he was Jensen's best friend.  He already knew if Jensen hadn't gone home, he'd gone to Chris's.  Frankly, he’d been expecting the visit two days earlier.  
  
"You two looked like you were doing fine on your own, but the next morning I wake up with Jensen pounding on my door.  You gotta know something."  
  
Jared went to the kitchen and pulled out a mug, motioning to Chris.  He looked at Jared for a minute, and then nodded, as if he’d decided to give Jared the benefit of the doubt for a few minutes.  Jared poured two cups of coffee and slid one across the table to Chris before taking a seat across from him.   
  
"Everything was fine," he said, staring into the coffee.  "I don't get it.  I have this," he paused.  He hated talking about this to anyone but Chris was probably the only one that could explain why Jensen flipped out.  "I have this scar.  As soon as he saw it, he just took off.  I tried to stop him and he flinched, man, actually acted like he was afraid of me touching him."  
  
"He ever act like that before?"  
  
There was no accusation in his voice and Jared took a deep breath, releasing some of the tension he hadn't realized had been building up.  "No, I've never seen him flinch away from anyone and he always seemed to," he shrugged, "he always sorta seemed to lean into me before, you know?  He never acted like he was afraid of something like that."  
  
"Yeah," Chris said, "never saw him warm up to anyone as quickly as he warmed up to you.  So... what happened?  How'd you get the scar?"  
  
"Hunting.  I was just a kid.  My family is into it but I never really wanted to do it.  Hell, I came to school to get away from that sort of thing.  Anyway, it was a bad hunt and I got attacked and managed to make it through okay, just with this scar."  
  
Chris looked at him, shaking his head.  "I don't know what's happening, Jared.  He's been pacing my floor back and forth for three days and he goes from angry to hurt to calm and back before I can figure out what to say."  
  
"But he's with you?" Jared asked, relieved that Jensen was at least with friends.  
  
"Yeah."  
  
Jared sighed.  "I don't... just tell him I’m sorry for whatever and I hope he'll come back soon," he got up then and found one of Jensen's bags under his bed.  He threw some clothes in it and got his personal stuff out of the bathroom before handed it back to Chris who was watching him.  "Just some of his stuff, until he's ready to come back."  
  
Chris nodded.  "I'll talk to him Jared.  Not sure he'll listen to me, but whatever you two had was pretty good.  I don't know why he's backed away like this, but I can see the way his fingers get itchy for you.  He wants to come back."  
  
Jared nodded.  "Take care of him."  
  
Chris reached up and gave him a quick one armed hug before he stepped back.  "We'll take care of him until he's ready to come back."  
  
Chris was stressing the come back part pretty hard and Jared realized he was trying to reassure him.  "And if he never is?"  
  
Chris smiled.  "Well then I might have you come over and kick some sense into him.  See you later, Jared."  
  
"Bye, Chris."  
  
He watched the other man walk out and closed the door softly behind him.  He felt better knowing where Jensen was, but it still hurt that he wasn't there.  He didn't understand and wouldn't until Jensen told him, but waiting was killing him.  It was one of the few times since he'd walked through that door and met Jensen that he wished he had someplace else to go.  
  
He called Chad after Chris left, just to hear another friendly voice.  He didn't say anything about Jensen's behavior and Chad didn't ask about him.  He talked about being home and how much he hated being there with his crazy family.  He mentioned seeing Jared's family also, but he didn't say much and Jared understood.  His parents knew that Chad went to the same school as Jared.  They knew Chad had helped him find a place to live and that they were best friends.  They’d cut their ties to him and his family as well.  
  
As much as it hurt to hear about his parents and siblings, it was something he'd accepted when he'd sent out his applications to college.  He felt better hearing from Chad, knowing that his friend was still there if he needed to reach out though.  He felt tired when he hung up, tired and a little achy and walked into Jensen's room, sitting on his mate's bed, hoping it would give him some clue as to why he'd fled as he had.  
  
Mate.  He hated the way the word had suddenly abbreviated in his mind, hated the way he could still hear it with Jensen's raspy voice that first night.  He hated that it meant more than just that, that it made him think of _dragans_ and caves and entwined pairs.  It made him think of someone bound to him for a lifetime and as much as the _Sealgaire_ believed the lack of choice was an awful thing, Jared couldn't help but wonder what it would be like to find someone that was forever yours; bound by something you couldn’t fight or walk away from.  He couldn’t help but think if there was something like that for hunters, maybe Jensen wouldn't have run so hard.  
  
He wiped a hand wearily over his face and lay back on the bed he'd spent so much time on.  Besides the nights he'd let himself wrap around Jensen, there were all the times he'd walked in on Jensen studying and just needed to take a break, or when they'd hang out, too tired to really get up and too awake to go to sleep so Jared would sit at the foot of his bed and they'd laugh about the people Jensen dated or talk about school and their friends.  He lay down, curled in slightly, letting his head rest on Jensen's pillow.  Jensen would probably think he was snooping if he came in right then, but since it wasn't likely to happen anytime soon, he was safe.  It was the only place he felt safe anymore.  It was the last thought he had before falling asleep.  


 

 

  
  
  
The next week and a half went by slowly.  Jared walked around the mostly empty campus and started working on his books for the next quarter, getting himself a head start on the readings he was going to have to do.  He didn't call Chris or Steve to ask about Jensen, but every few days there would be a text or an email just saying that Jensen was still with them.  He cooked a little, trying to remember how Jensen did things in their little kitchenette and kept things clean like his mate would want it.  He knew not to expect a return of their previous relationship, not with the way Jensen had left, but he had hopes that it wouldn't mean one of them moving out.  Jared had to live in the dorms, but as an upperclassman Jensen could always leave.  
  
There were four more days left until the quarter began, two before most people would start showing up in the dorms again and Jared was sitting on the couch, a book in his lap.  He was trying hard to read it but it wasn't doing much good.  A book with the title Dragonology should suit him just fine, but he couldn't focus.  He felt like something was coming, something big was happening and it was eating away at his skin.  
  
He looked up when he heard a key in the lock and tried to push down the hope that Jensen was home.  It was probably Chris or Steve again, coming to get something for him.  When the door opened it was Jensen though, looking like he hadn't slept in weeks and Jared clenched his hands into white knuckled fists to keep from grabbing him.  Jensen looked up and there was wariness in his eyes as he looked at Jared.   
  
"Hey Jared," he said quietly, moving through the suite and into his room.  He dropped his bag on the bed and came back out, leaning against the doorframe as he did so.  
  
Jared gave what he hoped was a polite smile, knowing that he was failing miserably.  "Hey," it was the best he could manage without demanding to know why Jensen had left him like that, why when they'd finally got their act together he'd bolted as fast as he could.  
  
"Dragonology?"  Jensen asked, nodding to the book in his lap.  
  
"Huh?  Oh, just reading.  You know, to relax."  
  
"How's that working for you?"  
  
"Not at all," Jared said with a huff.   
  
Jensen moved out of the doorway and sat down on the couch next to Jared, turning towards him as one hand gripped Jared's knee.  "I'm sorry."  
  
Jared turned to look at him and he took a deep breath.  "Why?" He grabbed Jensen's hand though and pulled.  He was surprised when Jensen let him and Jared grabbed his hips, pulling him up until he was sitting on Jared's lap, knees straddling him.  
  
Jensen's forehead rested against his own.  "I... I can't explain it, Jared.  It's not about... I just needed to deal with this and I think I have.  Can that be enough?"  
  
He wanted to say no, wanted to demand answers but he had so many damn secrets from Jensen.  He hated to think that this would give him leverage someday to ask for Jensen's trust without conditions, but he couldn't help but think it did anyway.  He looked up at Jensen, his hands cradling his face as he made Jensen look him in the eye.  "Tell me you still want this," he whispered.  "Tell me I didn't mess this up somehow."  
  
There was a harsh bark of a laugh from Jensen before he shook his head.  "You didn't mess this up, Jared.  I still want this, want you so much.  It was all I could think about since I left."  
  
"God, me too."  
  
Jensen's lips crashed into his and Jared pulled him closer, feeling more like himself than he had in days.  "Bed," he said into Jensen's mouth, "need you in bed."  
  
Jensen nodded and didn't complain at all as Jared stood up from the couch, hands holding Jensen against him as Jensen's legs wrapped around his waist.  He took them to Jensen's bed and they stripped quietly, neither speaking except through the small brush of hands or the way a kiss deepened.  He knew what he needed and it had nothing to do with sex and everything to do with the safety he felt in Jensen's arms.  They slid between the sheets and they lay like that, naked and entwined, kissing and licking into one another's mouths, until Jensen's eyes were half lidded with sleep.  Jared shifted until he was lying next to Jensen.  His lover moved closer, letting his head rest on his chest, fingers finding their way down his side and to the scar that had scared him away in the first place.  Jared tensed as he tried to stop Jensen's hand, but Jensen just pushed further.  "S'okay" he said softly, sleep-dulled words brushing against his neck.  
  
Jared relaxed as Jensen's fingers played against the teeth marks.  He'd never noticed how sensitive they were, never allowed anyone to touch them and it was disturbing and settling at the same time, like as uncomfortable as it was for Jared to feel it, Jensen had a right to that mark, and had a right to touch it.  Jared let out a deep breath and kissed Jensen's temple lightly before falling asleep to the feel of Jensen's fingers on his ruined skin.

 

 

 

  
  
  
By the time classes started, Jared and Jensen were at ease with one another again.  He caught Jensen looking at him oddly from time to time and when they were in bed together his fingers always caressed the scar that had separated them in the first place, but it was small enough that he ignored it.  For all the strangeness about himself and the way he’d been raised, he could forgive a few stares.  
  
They slept together most nights, in Jensen’s room with Jared pressed against the wall and Jensen pulled into him, or on his back with Jensen resting half on him.  He got his grades back and was happy with the way his finals had come out so he wasn’t as stressed when the new quarter began.  
  
Jensen teased about his need to study, but then Jared would find Jensen up at all hours of the night reading his textbooks.  At first he’d been a little shocked to find Jensen lying beside him, book in front of him and a dim book light to read by.  He’d gotten over it when Jensen admitted to bouts of insomnia though and told him he’d always gotten a lot of reading done at night.  
  
It was nothing unusual for them to be walking across the quad together with their friends after lunch, or just whenever they had time to hang out.  Jared enjoyed the freedom that came from college, the break from the constant training he’d had at home, even if he did still visit the school gym a few times a week to stay in shape.  It was still a novel feeling to just be walking with his friends, trying to make plans for the afternoon.   
  
“Movies this weekend?” Chris asked as they walked out of the student union.  
  
Jared looked over at Jensen and Jensen smiled.  “Why not?  I don’t think my body can take another Hall Crawl,” he said with a laugh.  
  
Jared agreed because the last one they’d managed to get spectacularly smashed at.  He almost swore never to drink again, but he was serious about his word and he knew he’d never keep it.  No matter how much his head had hurt the next morning.  The only consolation was that Jensen had woken just as beat up as he was, curling in on Jared like he could stop the pain.  Taking care of Jensen seemed to help him focus on something else though and his own hangover had disappeared pretty quickly.  
  
“We seriously need to limit how many we can have each sememster.  Or at least make sure there’s a good reason for it,” Jared said.  
  
“Which one didn’t we have a good reason for?”  Chad asked.  
  
“Fourth one.”  
  
“Missy’s birthday.”  
  
“Oh.  Wait, who is Missy?”  
  
Chad’s brow furrowed for a minute, but then he smiled.  “Not a clue man.”  
  
“My point.”  
  
They laughed as they walked, taking their time since none of them had classes that afternoon.  Their only plan was to head back to the dorm and watch some movies or play video games until dinner time.  
  
“Dude… Jared.”  
  
He stopped at Chad’s stunned voice.  The others stopped a couple steps on as Jared looked up to where Chad pointed and he felt his back straighten, calling on his full height as if a confrontation had already started.  Jensen was at his side immediately, as if he could feel the tension and unease in him.  
  
“I didn’t think you talked to them anymore Jared,” Chad said softly.  
  
“I don’t.”  
  
He felt Jensen step closer until his chest was pressed to Jared’s back, felt one hand on his wrist and the other at his hip like his lover couldn’t decide between keeping him close or protecting him.  They both felt good and Jared let his hand brush over Jensen’s fingers on his arm.  
  
“Who are they?” Jensen asked as Jared turned to look at him.  
  
“My parents.”  
  
Alarm flushed Jensen’s face and Jared wasn’t sure what caused it but Jensen’s fingers tightened on his arm.  “What do they want here?” he asked, looking past Jared to the distant figures, waiting in the tree line for him.  
  
“I don’t know, but I better handle this alone.”  
  
“I’ll come with you Jared,” Chad offered.  
  
“No thanks man.  I need to do this myself.  You guys just go ahead. Whatever this is I’ll take care of it and meet you there.”  
  
“I can wait here for you,” Jensen said softly, the steel he knew hid beneath his mate’s caring nature showing itself.  Jared could tell Jensen meant it, could see the determination in his eyes, but he could also see the discomfort and something that bordered on fear.  
  
“No, really.  Just go on up and I’ll be there in a little bit.  It shouldn’t take long.  They kicked me out for choosing to go to college.  I don’t imagine we’ll have much to say when they realize I’m not ready to come stumbling home.”  
  
Jensen reached a hand up and kissed his cheek lightly.  Jared closed his eyes and let himself feel the full weight of his mate’s devotion before he sighed and took a step back.  “I’ll see you guys in a few,” he said, and took a few steps away.  Chris pulled Chad and Jensen after him and once they were walking away, with Jensen looking over his shoulder every few steps, Jared walked over to the shadowed figures at the edge of the park.  
  
He stopped when he was a few feet away, making himself clearly visible to other students walking by instead of following his family into the darker shadows of the trees.  He didn’t know what to say to them so he crossed his arms over his chest, trying to pull on his full height the way he’d been trained to do when under attack.  
  
He let his eyes roam over them, over his mother and father, his older brother and two uncles who stood at the back.  They didn’t look any different than when he’d left, but he didn’t really expect them too.  It hadn’t been that long and it wasn’t likely they’d gone into battle in the short amount of time he’d been gone.  The _dragan_ could take months, even years to catch because of the way they blended into the public.  There weren’t a lot of ways to tell a _dragan_ from a person when it was in human form.  They hadn’t had a new sighting of a _dragan_ for two years before he’d left home though so he knew they hadn’t been working on anything.  
  
“There’ve been signs,” his father said, his calm voice carrying softly in ways that made men want to listen.  Jared felt himself straining to listen as well and stopped himself.  
  
He took a deep breath.  A part of him had hoped they’d come to tell him they missed him, that they wanted him to come home when he could to visit, but he’d known as soon as he realized his uncles were there as well that it was nothing like that.  He wished he’d just kept walking back to his dorm room and stayed in with Jensen instead of walking over to them.  
  
“That’s not my life anymore.”  
  
“You think a _dragan_ will care?” his uncle asked.  
  
“I think I’m probably not likely to meet one on campus to worry about it,” he snapped back.  
  
“You think because you got lucky once it’ll keep another one from taking a bite out of you?” his brother asked, voice soft and pained.  They had been close, up to him leaving for college.  He understood Jared better than the others, didn’t hate him for their differences, but he could hear the worry in his voice, unlike the anger in his Uncle’s.  
  
“I think it was more than luck.  If I believed it was just that I’d still be hunting and you know it.”  
  
“Jared, the signs are here.  More than one, and they’re coming to this area frequently,” his father said.  “You can’t allow yourself to be vulnerable.  Come with us.  We’ll get this _dragan_ and then we can move away from all this.”  
  
Jared could see how much it meant to him, could see it echoed in his mother’s eyes, but he couldn’t.  ‘All this’ meant college and his ideas of a different life from what his family had.  He didn’t want to hunt though, didn’t want to see his hands covered in the blood of something as majestic as a _dragan_.  He knew he didn’t think like his family when it came to them, but he couldn’t back down from it either.  He knew, without a doubt, that the _dragan_ he had attacked had only protected her child and there was nothing cruel or evil about the way it had throw Jared, young as he was, away from them in order to take the child to safety.  If they were everything his family has always been taught, it would have killed him outright, just for the fun of it.  
  
“No, I’m not leaving school.  I’m not coming back to the hunt.  I’m sorry that this hurts you, but I can’t live a life I don’t believe in.  Our ancestors came across the ocean to continue a bloodbath and that’s all we’ve ever done.  No one, in all the history that we’ve been taught, has ever tried to forge a truce, to put an end to this war.  Its genocide and I’m not willing to help you with that.”  
  
His father opened his mouth, but his mother laid her hand on his arm to stop him.  She nodded past him and Jared knew she was indicating the people he’d walked past them with.  “Who was the boy?”  
  
He should have known she’d say something about that.  She had always been the keenest observer of the group and Jensen’s kiss hadn’t been subtle.  He’d always tried to learn from her, his own observational skills lacking because he tended to let his passions ride him instead of being able to see the whole picture, but she’d helped him learn to trust in his real strengths, his instincts and his prowess with weapons.  
  
“My mate,” he saw the widening of eyes and shook his head before continuing, remembering with an ugly twist how he’d felt the first time Jensen had called him that.  He’d gotten over it as Jensen continued to say it.  In fact, he’d come to like the term, as much for them as for the symbol of what it meant in his other life as well.  “My suitemate.  We live in the dorms together.”  
  
“He’s protective of you.”  
  
“He’s my boyfriend and he doesn’t know anything about you.  He was just looking after me,” he shook his head.  “You have no idea how good it feels to have someone who wants to take care of you.”  
  
His father let out a heavy bark of laughter.  “Would he protect you from a _dragan_ Jared?” he asked with concern.  “Would he set himself in front of a Green’s teeth for you?”  
  
Jared tilted his head up slightly, looking down his nose at his father.  It wasn’t about Jensen, but about the fact that he wasn’t _Sealgaire_ , that he didn’t know about the danger.  “Yes, he would,” he answered without a doubt.  No matter what issues Jensen and he had, he never doubted the way Jensen was there for him, the way he’d been since the day they met.  “Knowing he’d die just to give me a few more seconds to live, he’d still do it.”  
  
There was truth in his words and they could hear it.  It was something that came with their duty, an ability to see the truth in the words of others.  They knew he believed what he was saying, but it was obvious his father disbelieved.  “And yet he walked away.”  
  
“I asked him to.  The last thing I want to do is drag my friends into this.”  
  
“Chad could have stopped to say hello,” his brother interrupted.  
  
They weren’t exactly close, but Jeff and Chad knew one another.  They’d spent more than one night goofing around together when there was nothing else to do.  “It’s really not surprising with the way you all ignored him when he came home for break.”  
  
He could see something in his brother’s eyes, like he didn’t know Chad had been around and that the way his parents brushed him off was a surprise.  He felt bad for Jeff, felt like he was being put in the middle of the family fight and he wished there was some way to stop it.  
  
“The signs, Jared, they’re here.  We won’t come back to warn you again,” his father reasserted.  “It’s your last chance to come with us.”  
  
“Good, then it’s the last time I have to say no.  I,” he took a deep breath because as open as he was with his friends at school, it was hard to be like that with his family.  They had such different expectations of who he was and what he should be.  He didn’t hate them though, wasn’t entirely angry with their either.  It hurt and seeing them brought that all back, but he wasn’t like them and they’d never be able to understand the person he was.  “I love you, but I can’t be what you are.  The _Sealgaire_ will have to hunt without me.”  
  
His father nodded, as if he had expected nothing less.  He gave Jared a long look before walking away, his uncles following in his wake.  Jared’s mother stopped to kiss him one last time and then Jared was alone with his brother.  
  
He pulled Jeff into a hug and his brother sighed heavily into it.  “Take care of yourself man.”  
  
“You too,” Jared said with a smile.  
  
Jeff shook his hand and Jared realized he was handing him a small slip of paper.  “Keep in touch little brother.  I can’t change who they are,” he said, looking to where his family was walking away, “and I don’t believe the same things you do, but I also don’t agree with you not being able to come home.  I’m here if you need to talk,” he said with a small smile.  “I’m still your big brother, so don’t forget that Mr. College man.”  
  
Jared pulled Jeff into one last hug before he knew his brother had to be off with the others and Jeff indulged him again even though Jared knew it had to be making him uncomfortable.  “I’ll miss you,” he said softly, and then they were gone.  
  
He waited until he knew he was alone and looked at the paper Jeff had handed him.  A new phone number.  He wondered if his parents knew about it, or if Jeff was making sure they didn’t know Jared had a way to contact him.  It was the gesture that counted really, his brother letting him know that no matter what had happened he still had his big brother.  He wasn’t entirely without family anymore.  
  
He pulled his cell out and programmed the number in before anything could happen to the paper and smiled to himself as he made his way back to the dorms.  


 

 

  
  
“Hey.”  
  
They all looked at him when he came in the room, but he waved them all off, asking for a few minutes while he shut himself in his room to gather his thoughts.  When his door opened a few minutes later he expected to find Jensen, but it was Chad who came in and sat at the foot of his bed.  
  
“So… how’s the family?”  
  
Jared smiled slightly.  “Jeff didn’t know they weren’t talking to you.  Wanted to know why you didn’t stop by to say hi.”  
  
“He’s talking to you?”  
  
Jared nodded.  “Gave me his number in case I needed to talk.”  
  
Chad smiled and Jared knew he understood how much that meant to him, to have someone back home he could talk to.  “Good.  I never figured Jeff would be the type to keep you out.”  
  
Jared sat up and looked down at his hands.  “Yeah.  I mean, I still can’t go home, but it’s something.  It’s a place to start anyway.  But it doesn’t matter right?” he said, trying to lighten his mood.  “I have you guys and I have school and that’s enough for now.”  
  
It was a melancholy thought but it was the best he had.  As much as he’d accepted this was the way his family was it still hurt.  He saw a shadow in the door and he looked up to see Jensen there.  “You alright Jared?”  
  
Chad smacked his knee as he headed out and Jensen sat down beside Jared.  “Yeah, I’m alright.  It just surprised me to see them here.”  
  
“You never told me about your family, about cutting ties with them.  I wish I’d known.  I mean, I knew things weren’t good when you didn’t talk about them but I didn’t think it was like this.”  
  
“It doesn’t matter,” he said softly, pulling Jensen down onto the bed and into his arms.  His lover let him, settling against Jared’s chest as he ran his fingers down to his hip where the scar was.  “I have you and I have my friends here.  I’m okay with that.”  
  
“Just wish I’d known how much pressure you had that first quarter.  Explains a lot.  I’d have taken better care of you.”  
  
Jared snorted and Jensen looked up at him.  “I don’t think you could have done anything more for me back then than you were already doing, Jensen.”  
  
Jensen shrugged.  “I know what it’s like, Jared, so don’t feel like you can’t talk to me about it.  I don’t have any family to go home to either.  I know how hard it is to hear everyone talking about going home for break or weekends and not having anywhere else to go.”  
  
Jared nodded as he let his fingers stroke through Jensen’s hair.  “I just… it was exhausting to see them here, to talk to them like that out of the blue.  I never thought I’d see them again.”  
  
“Then take a nap.  The guys will wake us up when the pizza gets here, you know that.”  
  
Jared smiled into Jensen’s lips as he leaned in to kiss him.  “Don’t know what I did to deserve you,” he said softly.  
  
Jensen bit his lower lip.  “Maybe, somewhere along the line, you did something really special,” he said with a wink, “something so life altering that you were granted the perfect boyfriend.”  
  
Jared laughed and he rolled them, pinning Jensen underneath him.  “You think that was it?”  
  
“Or maybe it was me.  Works out well for both of us though, doesn’t it?”  
  
He laughed as he buried his head in Jensen’s neck, letting go of all the tension and fear his parent's unexpected visit caused.  He remembered feeling Jensen’s fingers in his hair and then he was out.

 

 

 

 

  
  
  
  
Jared wanted to forget about his family, but it wasn’t that easy.  He knew they were still around.  They had seen _dragan_ signs and they weren’t about to leave until they’d investigated it thoroughly.  It would be easier, Jared thought as he walked back towards the dorms after class, if he couldn’t see the signs himself.  
  
He hadn’t wanted to look for it, but when his family mentioned it he started paying attention, some foolhardy part of himself wanting to tell them they were wrong.  They were the _Sealgaire_ though and they were good at what they did.  They hunted _dragan_ across the whole expanse of the United States and as much as he hated what they did, he couldn’t help but feel a little pride at how good they were.  
  
So he did the research and he saw the same things they did; an increase in field fires, disruption in the behavior of animals nearby, the disappearance of a large number of them, flight patterns for birds were off and there were unusual sightings in the sky around dusk and dawn.  None of it really meant anything, unless you were hunting _dragan_.  Knowing what he did, Jared couldn’t help but agree with his family.  There was a _dragan_ nearby and it was being visited by others.  Often.   
  
There were plenty of places within flying distance that a _dragan_ could find, caverns and cave systems that would allow them to meet and conspire.  He knew of more than a few first hand.  As much as he loved exploring them, loved the feel of being surrounded by ancient rock, the hunter in him had needed to check out the possibility before he’d settled into school.  
  
One of his favorite places on campus was actually a perfect place for _dragan_ activity.  Past the old parking lot was a seldom used park that sat against a large cliff face.  A wooden fence separated the park from a steep drop into a rocky chasm below.  He went out there with his friends between classes sometimes to throw a ball around or they’d pack a lunch and head out.  The girls on the floor loved it and Jared and Jensen rarely said no if they could manage it.  
  
Oddly enough, they never went there alone.  There was something about it and Jared couldn’t ask Jensen to go there just the two of them.  He thought about it more than once, but instinctively shied away.  He ran on instinct more than anything else when it came to Jensen so he never pushed.  
  
He let out a deep breath as his dorm came into view.  He’d stayed at the library late the night before researching again.  He preferred to do _dragan_ research away from the dorm, so he’d crawled into bed behind Jensen much later than he’d planned.  Jensen dropped the book he’d been reading and pushed Jared onto his back, settled himself into the crook of Jared’s body, and they’d both gone to sleep.   
  
Jared hadn’t been happy to wake up in the morning, but Jensen didn’t have an early class so he’d just slept through the alarm right up until Jared kissed him good-bye.  Impossibly green eyes had stared at him for a minute before pulling him in for a more thorough kiss before Jared was finally allowed to leave.  
  
Now that his morning classes were over he had nothing to do for the rest of the afternoon.  He was mostly caught up in his studies so he planned to go back to their suite and sleep until Jensen came back from class.  
  
He stopped as he turned the corner to the dorm and saw Jensen standing there talking to a woman he didn’t know.  She was older than Jensen and Jared couldn’t place it, but she felt familiar somehow.  Her eyes glanced past Jensen and he could feel her stare from across the way.  
  
Jensen looked back over his shoulder and his eyes widened before he turned back to look at her.  He stood taller with his shoulders drawn back and his stance widened slightly, like he was squaring off with an opponent in a fight.  Jared couldn’t hear the words but the woman’s eyes were like fire.  Even from the distance he stood, he could see the disapproval and disgust in her face.  Then Jensen was stepping closer to her, his hand pushing her back a step where she’d started to walk forward.  
  
She stared over at Jared and he kept his expression carefully blank.  He didn’t know who she was but it was obvious she was judging him for some reason.  He didn’t know why Jensen was talking to her, but he just waited.  She spoke quickly, words that Jared couldn’t hear but then she was walking away and Jensen’s shoulders seemed to slump forward.  
  
Jared walked over to him, moving quietly up behind him.  “Hey, you alright?”  
  
Jensen let out a deep breath, leaning his body back against Jared’s as he tilted his head back to rest on his shoulder.  “Better now,” Jensen said softly.  
  
Jared pressed a kiss into his temple.  “Who was that, Jensen?”  
  
Jensen pulled away but not before Jared could feel the shudder that went through his body.  “I’m gonna be late to class.  Talk tonight, alright?”  
  
“Yeah, sure,” Jared’s brow furrowed as he watched Jensen turn to face him.  It wasn’t alright, not really, but Jensen needed to get to class and Jared was too tired to figure it out just yet.  “See you tonight.”  
  
Jensen was already walking away and Jared decided his plan was still for the best.  After some sleep he might be able to get his brain working enough to figure out who she was and why Jensen was so upset.  


 

 

 

  
  
  
He woke a few hours later to the press of lips against his throat and strong fingers wrapped around his cock.  “Come on, Jay,” Jensen’s voice rasped against his skin.   
  
He was barely awake but he didn’t need to think as he pulled Jensen’s face to his, tongue licking his way into his mate’s mouth.  Jensen leaned up into him and he dropped his hands between them, letting them trail down Jensen’s side.  He was already naked and Jared gripped Jensen’s hips, pulling him into the right position.  He batted Jensen’s hands away from his cock then thrust up slightly, feeling the silken drag as they lined up perfectly.  He wrapped his larger hands around the both of them and Jensen bit Jared’s lower lip, pulling softly as Jared worked them both.  
  
He loved the feel of Jensen against him, loved the heat of his skin and the way Jensen fell into complete abandon when they were together.  It never took long when they were like this, when Jensen was thrusting up against him and seemed to need Jared as much as Jared needed him.   
  
Jensen’s hips thrust up into his fist, and Jensen pulled back, eyes closed before he leaned in, biting and sucking at Jared’s shoulder as he came over his hand.  Jared continued stroking them, his own cock slicked with Jensen’s come.  He only lasted another few strokes, “Jen…” he moaned out as his orgasm ripped through him.  
  
He let his hand stroke up the sides of Jensen’s back, his hands coming to rest on the short hairs at the nape of his neck.  No matter how they started, no matter what position they were in, Jensen always managed to end up on top of him and Jared loved the feel of it.  
  
Jensen’s head fell into the dip of his neck and he pressed kisses into Jared’s skin, sighing deeply as he did.  
  
“Hey, you okay?” Jared asked softly.   
  
He could feel Jensen smile against his skin.  “Yeah.  Just came in to see if you wanted to wake up and head to the cafeteria and couldn’t help myself.”  
  
Jared laughed.  “Food or sex?  That’s a tough call, Jen.”  
  
“Shut up, Jared,” he murmured into Jared’s shoulder.  His hand pressed against Jared’s scar as he sighed again, settling further against his chest.  “We could call out for pizza instead?”  
  
“Yeah, in a bit,” he answered, staring up at the ceiling.  He had a sudden revelation about what Jensen was doing then and he wrapped his arms around him.  “So, you ready to tell me about earlier?”  
  
He felt Jensen go still against him and he knew his instinct had been right.  “Jared…”  
  
“You looked upset, Jen.”  
  
Jensen let out a deep breath.  “Yeah, she’s… she’s from back home,” he finally admitted.  “An ex.  She came to check up on me and she saw you there.”  
  
“She knows about me?”  
  
“Yeah.”  
  
“So, she doesn’t like me?  She doesn’t like that you’re with a guy?  Or she just doesn’t like you with anyone else period?”  
  
Jensen shifted so he was lying more on his side and began letting his hand roam over Jared’s chest before it came to sit on his scar again.  Jared wasn’t sure Jensen was aware he was doing it anymore.  “She wants me to come home.  She wants me to settle with someone closer to home.”  
  
“Settle?  So, she thinks you’re that gone on me?”  Jared asked with a grin.  “Gonna spend the rest of your days with me?”  
  
“Shut up,” but Jensen looked up at him then and kissed him softly.  When he looked up at Jared, there was something like fear in his eyes, as much as he tried to hide it.  “You know I’m gone on you,” he said to try to deflect it but Jared had already seen it.  
  
He raised a hand to Jensen’s face.  “Gone on you too,” he said softly, trying to show everything he was feeling in his eyes.  “I love you.  I know it’s probably not realistic to think we’ll make it, but I know we will.  I am gonna spend the rest of my days with you.”  
  
“Jesus, Jared,” Jensen closed his eyes, his forehead dropping enough that Jared was able to press a soft kiss against it.  When Jensen looked up he was already surging forward, his lips stopping a breath from Jared’s.  “Love you too Jay, so fucking much I can’t breathe sometimes.”  
  
Their lips crashed together and they stayed wrapped up like that, kissing, touching, hands on skin, cocks gliding in and out until they were both sweaty and sated.  The pizza arrived a long time after the cafeteria had closed.  


 

 

 

  
  
  
“This is crazy!”  Chad said as he walked into the park, his voice full of laughter.  
  
“It was your idea,” Jared reminded him as he looked out at the park they were standing in.  It was still technically on campus but no one ever came out past the old parking lot.  The uneven terrain made it possible for Jared to set up a bonfire without having to worry about someone catching them.  They were hidden enough that no one would spot the fire so long as they kept it contained.  He’d been at it all day, digging the dirt up enough that it would work.  It felt good to be doing it, familiar, even if he was doing it almost two months early.  His family would scoff at the way he was breaking tradition by celebrating the pagan rite like this, but once Chad had mentioned they should do it, everyone else had seemed interested as well.  For Jared it was like sharing a little bit of who he had been, without having to explain any of it to his friends.  
  
“When are you gonna light it?”  Chad asked.  
  
“Full night fall, like usual,” Jared said with a smile.  Tables were set up around the clearing with food and drinks that everyone had brought out with them.  Roses and bright wildflowers were set up in vases all over the tables and fields, creating a circle in the space.  Some of the girls were wearing flowers in their hair and were weaving crowns of flowers, dropping them unsuspectingly on anyone they decided wasn’t festive enough.   
  
It was like home, but not.  The food that his friends brought wasn’t traditional, it was chips and KFC and burgers and casseroles bought at the grocery store, beer and liquor and soda and tea.  His friends were laughing and joking.   Chris and Steve were setting up chairs in one corner to play for them.  It wasn’t the somber occasion his family had always made of it.  The flowers were wild, just bunched together by some florist in the supermarket instead of picked for specific reasons, but it looked almost like home.   
  
People were still arriving but Jared was starting to get nervous.  He was waiting for Jensen.  The celebration was fun and he loved having their friends around them, but if Jensen wasn’t coming he’d rather just be back at the dorms with his lover.  
  
Three more cars pulled up at the edge of the lot and Chad took off to welcome the newcomers.  Jared took the moment of quiet and lowered his head, saying a soft prayer to the Mother, giving thanks for the beauty of life and for the hope that light would continue to conquer dark.  
  
When he raised his eyes Chad was back at his side talking to Patrick and Alan.  “What the hell did you guys call this again?” Chad asked as they came walking over to Jared.  “Something weird right?  I can’t remember, just remember it was a killer bonfire after school was out.”  
  
“That’s all you would remember,” Jared teased.  
  
“Hey!  I remember other stuff.  Your Mom always made some comment about good people fighting the dark and some archaic shit,” Chad said with a grin.  “See, I remember?”  
  
“Yeah, you remember.”  
  
“So what was it called again?”  
  
“Litha.”  Jared jerked around to find Jensen staring at them, his eyes taking in the wood stacked up for the bonfire.  “Right?” he asked Jared.  “Though it’s not the summer solstice yet,” he added as he walked up, pressing a kiss to Jared’s neck, turning them both so he could look into the fire pit.  
  
“Yeah.  Not many people know about it.”  
  
Jensen shrugged.  “Had an ex that was Wiccan.”  
  
Jared wrapped his arm around Jensen’s shoulder and smiled as he pressed a kiss into his temple.  “You’re right, not the right time of year, but Chad wanted to do it so I gave in.”  
  
“Looks good.”  
  
“Wait until the fire gets started.”  
  
“Jensen!”  Chris and Steve drug Jensen off to their corner and Jared watched him go with a smile. 

  
  
  
When full darkness hit, Jared called out over the noise of their friends and lit the torch he had in hand.  The torch wasn’t something of the current holiday, but a collection of herbs and wood sticks that his family always burned in the Litha bonfire to add protection to the fire.   
  
Jared looked out at the others and smiled.  He was surrounded by friends.  Jensen was standing right in the front, looking up at him with a fond grin.  “May you be safe in the coming year, may your hopes and dreams come to fruition, may beauty fill you and surround you, and may the light of your soul always eclipse the dark of the world.”  
  
He thrust the torch into the wood and watched as the small flame ignited the kindling and began to grow.  Jensen came up beside him and Jared pulled him around until he could wrap his arms around Jensen’s waist, his head resting on Jensen’s shoulder as the flames erupted.   
  
Jensen turned slightly, pressing his lips to Jared’s neck.  “Blessed be,” he whispered softly.  
  
“Blessed be,” he returned the words without thought, pressing his own kiss to Jensen’s temple.  
  
Chad stared at them both for a second, frowning and when Jared caught his eye, his best friend just shook his head.  When Chris and Steve started playing a moment later, Jared followed him over, forgetting all about Chad’s concerned expression.

 

 

 

“Don’t you think it’s weird?”  
  
Jared looked at Chad, trying to wrack his brain to figure out what his friend was talking about.  They’d been walking back from class in silence and he had no idea what this was coming from.   
  
“Jensen?  Knowing about the bonfire?”  Chad clarified.  
  
He remembered his friend’s look three days earlier at the bonfire, remembered how he meant to ask him about it later but forgot entirely as he let himself get wrapped up in the celebration and their friends.  He’d forgotten his own misgivings too, the concern when Jensen could name Litha, when he mentioned the ex that he was sure meant the woman Jared had seen.  “We know about it.”  
  
“Yeah, but your family is weird.  Why does Jensen know about it?”  
  
“Why is this bothering you?”  
  
“Why isn’t it bothering you?  Look Jared, we’ve been friends for a long time.  If it was anyone else at that party that had known what the celebration was you’d be all over them, asking questions and being all paranoid like your family taught you to be.”  
  
Jared wanted to argue the point but he knew it was pointless.  Chad was right.  He was surprised at his friend’s insight, but he was right.   
  
“I don’t know what it is about you two, but you let him get away with shit that you’d kick anyone else to the curb for.  I just want to know that you’re okay.”  
  
Jared sighed.  He didn’t know how to explain it.  Yeah, he let Jensen get in close and he didn’t drill him about his past, didn’t make him talk about anything outside of school and that wasn’t like Jared before he’d come to college.  Hell, he did it to all their friends.  He knew more about Ericka down the hall than he did his lover.  It wasn’t because he didn’t want to know.  It wasn’t because his instinct to protect himself was any less.  It was just that with Jensen, he couldn’t demand answers and still give that same flippancy he gave everyone else.  If he demanded to know about Jensen’s past then Jensen could demand the same of him.  While he was fine playing the game with his friends, he didn’t want to do that with his lover.  He didn’t want to constantly lie to him or evade questions that he had a right to know the answers to.  It was easier to not ask because it gave him the leverage to walk away from those questions himself.   
  
“I am, Chad.  It’s just … different with Jensen.  I don’t feel like I need to drill him.  He’s my roommate, my boyfriend.  I might not know everything about him, but I know him,” he said, hoping that was sappy enough to get Chad to back off.  
  
“Alright man.  Gotta go.  Study group at the library.”  
  
“Since when do you join study groups?”  
  
“Since Mandy decided to join one.”  
  
Jared laughed as his friend turned towards the library instead of heading back to the dorms.  Jared didn’t break stride as he walked back alone.  Jensen would be out of class soon and they’d talked about conning Chris into driving them all out to the second run movie theater at the other end of town for the night.   
  
The halls were quiet at that time of the day, most of his friends in class or rushing to get there.  He was smiling as he went, happy with himself and the day.  Life in general.  Things still ate away at him, in the back of his mind there would never be a day without _dragan_ and the _Sealgaire_ and the suspicions that lifestyle had thrown on him, but he’d been able to walk away from it for the most part and he was happy with his life as it was. Jared missed his family but he wasn’t willing to back down from his path any more than they were.  This was the life he’d chosen and he was making the best of it.  
  
He got out of the elevator in his hall and walked towards his room, wondering who would be home in time for a movie tonight.  Even if it was just Jared, Jensen, and Chris they’d have a good time though.   
  
Something caught his eyes as he was walking and he slowed slightly as he looked at the wall of the hallway.  He didn’t have to stop to identify it.  He’d seen enough bloody fingerprints smeared across rooms to know the small, singular mark for what it was.  He sped up, adrenaline kicking in as he got to his room.  The door wasn’t open but he knew it wasn’t locked, not anymore.  He dropped his bag on the floor outside his room and pushed the door open slowly.   
  
He recognized the sound before anything else so he grabbed his bag and walked in, his face carefully neutral as he walked in, finding his father, brother, and mother attending to his wounded uncle in the bathroom.  “What the hell are you doing here?”  
  
They all looked back at him and he had to suppress his grin at having caught them all by surprise.  They thought he was getting soft?  “Jared,” his mother gasped his name in relief.  “Jason’s hurt.”  
  
“What happened?”  
  
“The _dragan_ ,” his father said as Jeff stepped out of the bathroom to let Jared look more closely at the wound.   
  
A large gash trailed over his uncle’s right side and while it looked like something they could stitch up themselves, Jared knew it had to hurt like hell.   
   
“A Queen, Jared,” his father said, his words soft and reverent.  “We found a Queen.”  
  
He took a step back and found himself pressed against the sink.  In their recorded history only one Queen had ever left the Old World.  If they’d found her nest, if they could kill her, the others would return to their homelands.  Without a Queen to guide them, the _dragan_ wouldn’t have a reason to stay.  
  
He turned his back on his father and walked out of the bathroom, heading into his room for the first aid kit he’d kept for hunting injuries.  It was buried at the bottom of the closet and he stooped over for a minute, his hand holding the medical case while he stared at the thing he’d never wanted to touch again.  But a Queen?  It would end the war his parents had so adamantly fought.  
  
He shook his head.  No, it wouldn’t.  If they did kill a Queen, they’d continue on until they knew for sure the entire flight of _dragan_ was gone and then they’d just return to Europe and they’d hunt there, where the fighting was still fierce.   
  
He stood and turned back to his mother when he heard the jingle of the key on the other side of the door.  “Fuck,” he said as the others went into defensive mode.  “Close the door and just back off,” he ordered them.  To his surprise they did.  
  
“Jared?”  Jensen was smiling as he looked up, then his eyes widened as he looked at Jared’s mother and brother standing next to the closed bathroom door.  “Jay?”  
  
“Jensen, um… can I talk to you for a minute?” he asked, pushing him back out into the hallway.  Jensen went willingly and Jared could see the fear in his eyes.  He hated to see it, that Jared’s reaction to his family made Jensen afraid of them.   
  
“What’s going on?”  
  
“My uh… family showed up.  I know we were supposed to hang out tonight but can you give me some time with them?”  
  
Jensen nodded slowly.  “Yeah, are you sure about that?”  
  
“Just… can you hang with Chris?  I’ll call you when it’s all clear, alright?”  
  
Jensen looked past Jared to the door and took a deep breath.  “Tell me everything’s alright, Jared,” Jensen said as he looked back at his lover.  
  
Jared sighed.  “It is.  My uncle got hurt in a hunting accident,” he said, belatedly remembering how badly Jensen had reacted to his own.  “He just needs to get patched up and then they’ll be on their way, alright?”  
  
“Hunting accident?”   
  
Jared nodded.   
  
“There’s nothing to hunt out here, Jared,” Jensen said, his eyes daring Jared to lie again.  
  
Jared dropped his head, taking a deep breath.  “I never asked, Jensen,” he said softly.  He’d never wanted to play this card, but he didn’t have any choice.  “All the things that have happened between us and I never asked, I just trusted you.”  He looked Jensen in the eye then and saw the way they widened at his words.  “I need you to trust me now.  I need you to just go to Chris’s and let me deal with this.”  
  
Jensen’s hand came up, gripping at Jared’s shirt.  “Jared, why don’t you come with me?  Let them do what they need to do and you can come with me instead,” he pleaded.  “You don’t have to stay here for them.”  
  
Jared sighed.  “You trust me, right?”   
  
Jensen looked terrified, but he nodded.  “Of course I do.”  
  
“Then let me deal with this.”  
  
He watched Jensen’s reaction, the pain that he didn’t understand, the fear and finally the acceptance.  “I love you, Jared, don’t forget that.”  
  
Jared crushed their lips together and Jensen opened beneath him, let him take what he needed from the kiss.  He rested his forehead against Jensen’s and took a deep breath.  “Love you too.  I’ll call you.”  
  
Jensen pulled away and started to walk down the hallway before he stopped and smiled sadly over his shoulder.  “Goodbye, Jared.”  
  
“Goodbye, Jensen.”   
  
Jensen walked off then, never looking back.  Jared just wished it didn’t feel so damn final.  
  
  
  
He took a minute to get his emotions under control.  Damn, he wanted to do what Jensen had asked, just follow him and leave his family to deal with this, but he couldn’t.  Instead, he walked back into the room, praying for some patience.  
  
“What the hell took you so long?”  
  
“Just trying to explain to my suitemate that I needed to use his living room for an ER,” Jared snapped at his father.  “Figured that would go over well.”   
  
“Jared,” his mother warned.  
  
“Don’t.  You came to me for help but you made it clear I’m not welcome in your family anymore.  Fine.  I can be the bigger person and help you out but don’t expect me to be happy about it.”  His father, by some miracle, held his tongue as Jared went in and did his best to help his uncle.  
  
He was the best medic in the family, had the steadiest hand when it came to a needle but it still took the best part of an hour to get him stitched up.  As stoic as Jason could be, he flinched every time he saw Jared working with the needle.  He’d threatened to drug him twice but they’d finally managed to finish it off.  
  
His father stayed with Jason and Jared washed his hands, walking into the kitchen as he dried his hands on a hand towel.  His mother and brother were sitting at the table, picking at a couple of bowls of left over chili.  
  
“Your cooking ain’t too bad, little brother,” Jeff said with a small smile.   
  
“Not mine, Jensen’s,” he hated how brusque his voice sounded, hated the way his mother looked at him like he’d given away more than he meant to.  Jeff got up from the table, leaving him with his mother.  
  
“He wasn’t happy to leave you with us,” it wasn’t a question, but a statement.  
  
“He wasn’t happy to be asked to walk out of his own home without an explanation,” Jared clarified.  He hoped she believed him.  They knew about Jensen but he didn’t need them to know how close they were, didn’t need the reminder that Jensen wasn’t _Sealgaire_ so he wasn’t strong enough to be partnered with one.      
  
His mother’s smile was sad as she took another small bite.  “He takes good care of you.”  
  
Jared wanted to scream but he nodded instead as Jeff set a bowl of chili in front of him, smothered in cheese just the way he liked it.  “Yeah, he does.”  
  
  
He managed to get through the meal with his mother before his father came barreling in and Jared knew he couldn’t put this off any longer.  This had been building for too long and even in the bathroom he’d been able to read the anger in the set of his father’s shoulders.  Jared rinsed his bowl under some water in the sink, waiting for it.   
  
“We could have killed her if you’d been there,” he accused.   
  
Jared turned the water off and turned around to look at his father, leaning back against the counter, his hands pressed to either side of him.  “I’m glad I wasn’t there.”  
  
“Your uncle could have died!”  
  
“You went to kill them!  The _dragan_ aren’t attacking people!  They haven’t in years!” he said, stepping away from the counter and pressing in towards his father.  “We’ve practically hunted them to extinction and yet you continue on like they’re some kind of plague to the earth!  You ever look around Dad?  You ever notice that it’s mankind that’s the plague on this planet?  Ever realize you’re just another monster out there killing someone’s child?”  
  
He could have blocked the punch if he’d wanted to, could have stepped back out of his father’s reach or simply ducked, but he didn’t.  His head reeled with the impact, but he stood his ground, licking at his lip, tasting copper as he looked at his dad.   
  
“If you don’t come with us, then you’re no son of mine.”  
  
Jared took a deep breath, knowing this was it, the last time they’d have this confrontation.  “You can stay tonight, but I suggest you be gone in the morning.  You’ve worn out your welcome here.”  


 

 

 

 

His phone calls went unanswered, but around midnight Jared finally got a text from Chris telling him Jensen was fine, that he was crashed out on their couch.  It didn’t really settle him any, but nothing would as long as his family was still there.  They gave his uncle his bed and Jared slipped into Jensen’s.  He didn’t know what the rest of them did.  They were gone in the morning, the blankets he’d left out for them folded properly and left stacked on the end of the couch.

He wanted to rail against their stupidity but there was nothing he could do.  Jesus, they were going after a Queen.  The only thing more terrifying to hunt than a Queen _dragan_ was a Green _dragan_.  He knew it as well as he knew how to handle a knife or how to get Jensen to laugh when he was too tense.  The Queens ruled the pecking order, the Blues were the fastest but easiest to kill, the Reds were built for stamina and long distance flights, but the Greens were built for battle.  They were ferocious and dangerous, lightning fast and loyal to the end.  They would defend one of their own with their last breath.  If the Queen was there to protect one of her own, she’d be just as quick to kill in their defence as a Green.  He hoped she wasn’t.  He hoped she was there for something else.  If she was, she would leave after the attack and never come back. 

He shuddered at the thought of what he knew a _dragan_ could do, but underneath it all he couldn’t help the curiosity it always aroused in him, especially the Greens.  He of all people knew that what they were taught wasn’t the end of it all.  He was scarred for life by a Queen’s jaws, but even further than that, he’d been speared by a Green’s eyes once, a child like himself, caught in a war he didn’t want and finding an unknowing ally before the adults could tear them apart. 

At eleven, it was supposed to be his rite of passage, his first hunt, but it had marked the end for him.  Jared learned what he had to, did what they’d asked of him, but when he’d turned eighteen he knew he would never hunt a _dragan_ again.  He would never try to kill something as majestic as that.

It didn’t make telling his family to get out any easier, knowing they were going into battle without him.

It didn’t make it any easier waiting for Jensen to come home.

He skipped class, going back to sleep in Jensen’s bed and didn’t wake up until his cell phone beeped at him.  It was a text from Jensen, asking to meet him at the park they’d held the celebration at.  Jared sent a quick text back, telling him he’d be there in thirty before he pulled himself together and ran out the door.

  
  

  
  
When he got there, Jensen was already waiting, his back to Jared as he sat on the top of a picnic bench, looking over the chasm.  He hated that their first time there alone was because of something like this.  He wanted to walk over to the fence and look across the expanse before them, arms wrapped around Jensen as the sun came down but he knew it wouldn’t happen today.   
  
Jared got to the table and Jensen stood up, keeping the length of the table between them.  Jensen’s eyes were shuttered when he looked over at Jared.  
  
“I know what you are, Jared,” he said softly.  
  
“What do you mean?”  Panic flared in him but Jensen couldn’t know.  Whatever Jensen thought he knew, he couldn’t possibly know what Jared really was.  
  
“I’ve seen the bag in your closet,” Jensen said resolutely.  His eyes looked down to Jared’s hip and he bit his lower lip.  “I know that’s a bite mark,” his voice was steady but sad, “and I know about the _Sealgaire_.”  
  
“Good job, son,” Jared spun away from Jensen to take on the new figures emerging from the trees to the right of them.  Fuck, he hadn’t seen his family there.  He saw Jensen tense and realized he hadn’t either.  
  
“Dad?”  
  
“We knew you wouldn’t let us down.  Led us right to the _dragan_ , brought them right into our grasp,” his uncle said proudly.   
  
He knew his mouth was gaping but then he turned back to Jensen and it all made sense; his fear of Jared’s family, his reaction to his scar, even letting Jared keep his secrets.  Jared always thought he’d lucked out that Jensen didn’t want to push about his past.  It seemed like they had both been playing the same game.   
  
“Jensen?” his voice was shaking as he took a step closer to his lover, his mate.  
  
Jensen took a deep breath and Jared watched the way he squared his shoulders.  He looked Jared in the eye and Jared watched as the green of his pupils bled into the whites.  Yellow irises opened up and swallowed the circular pupil, leaving the familiar, almost cat-like look that Jared knew so well.   
  
“ _Dragan_ ,” he whispered.  
  
Jensen nodded slowly.  “I never meant for this to happen, Jay,” he said softly.  “I didn’t know what you were until I saw the scar.  I would never have,” he took a shuddered breath, “I would have moved out if I’d known earlier but by the time I knew, it was too late.  The bond was done.”  
  
“Jared!”  
  
He turned at his father’s words and watched Jensen spin also as a woman strolled out of the parking lot and towards Jensen.  His ex.  Jealousy held him where he was.  
  
“No,” Jensen said, putting himself between her and the others.  His words were for her though.  “No, you have to leave.”  
  
“I’m not leaving you to them, I won’t leave you to die,” she argued.  “I warned you about them, warned you about their kind.  They will never stop hunting you!  You think he will stop them now that he knows what you are?”  
  
“Jared!”  He looked away from Jensen and saw the way his family was tensed, ready to fight.  “It’s the Queen, we have our chance.”  
  
“No,” he yelled back, unsure of anything except for the fact that he wouldn’t, couldn’t let them hurt Jensen.  “He won’t let you hurt her and I won’t let you hurt him.”  
  
“He lied to you, Jared,” his mother said, her eyes sad as she looked at him.  “He was only playing with you.”  
  
“No, you don’t know him like I do,” he said, backing up, trying to make himself a protective shield that his family couldn’t force their way through.   
  
“Don’t you fucking touch him,” he heard Jensen’s voice snarl behind him.  “He’s mine, my mate!  If you hurt him I will tear you limb from limb as is my right!”  
  
He’d never heard anything like that from Jensen, nothing ever angered his lover but there was fury behind his voice and he knew beyond a doubt, that it was the danger to himself that put it there.  He gave his family his back, hoping they wouldn’t stick a knife in him to get to the _dragan_.  He was relatively certain he was safe from that.  He reached a hand out when he was close enough, fingers wrapping in the fabric of Jensen’s shirt.  
  
“We’re screwed,” he said softly for his lover’s ears only.   
  
Jensen let out a soft bark of laughter.  “What will they do if I leave?”  
  
“They’re here for the Queen.  If she stays, they’ll attack her.  If I leave too, she might have a chance.  They need me if they’re going to take on a Queen.”  
  
Jensen looked at Jared and sighed.  “Do you still trust me, Jay?”  
  
He looked Jensen in the eye, green _dragan_ eyes, and he licked his lips.  Against his training and everything he’d ever been taught, he smiled.  “Yeah, I do.”  
  
Jensen let out a small breath, as if he’d been expecting Jared to say no.  When he smiled, it was brilliant.  “Then take a dive with me,” his eyes flicked to the fence in front of them and before he could answer Jensen was running, jumping over the wooden fence.  
  
Jared wasn’t sure what his mate was doing, but he meant it when he said yes.  Jensen was barely to the fence when Jared sprinted after him.  
  
“Jared!” his father screamed.  The wind carried the Queen’s “Jensen,” to his ears as well but he paid them no attention.  When Jensen reached the edge of the chasm he didn’t hesitate.  He leapt off the cliff in a graceful swan dive.   
  
There was no water below them, only rocks but Jared didn’t stop.  He reached the edge and without looking over, dove after his mate.    
  
Air whipped past his ears and through his hair, making in impossible to hear anything.  His eyes watered as he tried to open them, tried to see Jensen below him but he couldn’t see much more than shadow and light.  When something large came up the chasm at him, he had a moment of fear, but then strong talons were grasping him and he knew it was Jensen.  His eyes were shielded against the worse of the wind as he was held protected in his clutches.  He saw the Queen flying off in another direction and watched as his family turned into small specks as Jensen flew him further away.  The sound of Jensen’s wings drowned out everything else.   
  
He looked up at Jensen and let his head fall back against his claw.  He should be terrified, he knew, carried away by a green _dragan_ , but he knew he was safe.  He might have been the biggest fucking green _dragan_ he’d ever seen, but he was still Jensen, still his mate.   
  
 

 

 

 

  
  
They flew for about half an hour and Jared was shivering, pressing against Jensen’s leathery skin to try to stay warm.  He noticed when they started to circle and he peered through the talons to see a cliff.  They had been flying high above it, Jensen keeping them out of sight of anyone that might be out looking but they were descending now.   
  
He was thrown back, jolted against the walls of his lover’s grasp even as he felt them tighten protectively around him.  The light faded and he knew they were entering the cliff face, that Jensen was taking him to a cave where they would be safe for a little while.  
  
They stopped moving with another jolt and then Jensen let him go.  Jared stepped back, looking up at the green _dragan_ towering above him.  The cave they were in closed off as he looked back into it, the walls creating a natural barrier against wind and weather.   
  
He watched as Jensen stared down at him until he finally lowered his snout, green eyes coming down to stare at Jared.  
  
“You would be a Green,” Jared said with a shake of his head.  He reached a hand out, patting him lightly under his eye.  He shivered slightly, body still cold from the ride, and Jensen reared up.  Jared backed away, not sure what Jensen was doing, but then the _dragan_ seemed to grow brighter.  He shielded his eyes from the light and when he could finally see, Jensen was standing in front of him, naked and stumbling forward.  
  
“Jen,” he reached out instinctively, catching him.  
  
“’M’okay.  Just takes a few steps to get used to it,” he gave Jared a tentative smile, and then winced when Jared tried to steady him again.  “Jesus, you’re cold.”  
  
“Yeah well we don’t both have dragon skin to keep us warm in flight.”  
  
Jensen pulled him towards the back and Jared realized there was a break in the wall behind them.  Jensen pushed them through it and there were blankets and a mattress on the floor in the back.  “I didn’t think,” he said, pushing Jared down onto the mattress and pulling the blankets up over them.  
  
“Its okay, Jensen,” he said with a sigh.  “It’s not hypothermia or anything.”  
  
“It could have been and I wouldn’t have realized it.  I’ve never… carried a human before.”  
  
“So I’m your first?” he teased.  
  
Jensen looked at him then, finally meeting his eyes.  “Jared … I was going to tell you.”  
  
“I know,” Jared interrupted.  “I know that’s why you called me there.  I think … I think I knew something was going on and I didn’t want to look hard enough to figure out what it was.”  
  
“Why don’t you hate me?”  
  
Jared found Jensen’s hand and pressed it under his clothes to his scar.  “I haven’t wanted to hunt since I got that,” he said quietly.  “I left everything behind to get away from that life and I won’t hate you for being what you are.”  
  
“There aren’t many _dragan_ here,” Jensen said softly, “not many followed to the New World.  Only my flight.”  
  
Jared sat up on one elbow and Jensen’s hand grasped his hip tight.  “You mean the Queen that gave me this, that’s your ex?”  
  
Jensen snorted.  “She’s not my ex, Jared, I just couldn’t explain it any other way,” he said, his fingers still brushing over the scar, “but yeah, if you were bit here in the States, it must have been her.”  
  
Jared closed his eyes, the feel of Jensen’s fingers making him shiver.  Jensen pulled him back down into the mattress, mistaking it for cold.  
  
“Not cold, Jen,” he said softly.  
  
“No?”  
  
Jensen wasn’t looking at him and Jared knew he had to change that.  He loved Jensen, no matter who or what he was.  Instead of answering, he pulled him closer, angling his face up to press his lips against Jensen’s.  Jensen gasped and Jared slid his tongue between Jensen’s lips, deepening the kiss.  Jensen’s hand gripped his hip hard and then he was moving, pressing his body down on Jared and taking control of the kiss.  
  
Jensen pushed his shirt up and out of the way and then Jared was scrambling to push it up over his head.  As he did that he could feel Jensen working on the buttons of his pants.  He felt them being pushed down and he toed off his shoes to help.   
  
In moments he was naked and Jensen was pressed to him again.  “Jay,” he whispered his name against his skin, “wanted to tell you but I was so afraid you’d-” he stopped, pressing his mouth to Jared’s.  
  
He didn’t need to finish the sentence.  Jared understood.  He’d been afraid that Jared would hate him, that he’d turn back to his family’s beliefs, that he’d hunt Jensen.   
  
“Never hurt you, Jen,” he reassured his mate.  “Never let anyone hurt you.”  
  
Jensen kissed him hard, teeth clashing and Jared didn’t care as long as Jensen never let go.  It was rougher than he was used to, rougher than Jensen ever got with him, just spit for slick and not enough prep, but Jared pushed his body back, taking Jensen in faster and deeper.  Jensen moaned over him and Jared surged up, biting his bottom lip before kissing the swollen red of his mouth.  
  
There was a desperation in the mating this time and Jared didn’t kid himself that mating was exactly what this was.  He knew now, understood that this thing between them was permanent, that for some reason Jensen had chosen him.  Jensen’s thrusts became more frantic and one hand reached between them, stroking Jared.  He batted Jensen’s hand away and touched his face with one hand, his eyes closed even though he was frowning.  He understood now and he pulled Jensen closer, pressing their lips together.  “Look at me,” he whispered against Jensen’s lips.   
  
Jensen moaned at the words dropping his forehead to Jared’s lips.  “Look at me, don’t hide from me.”  
  
Jensen pulled back just enough to look him in the eye, and Jared was lost to the intensity of his gaze.  Jensen pressed hard into his body and Jared’s eyes closed for a moment before catching his breath and looking back up, letting loose the one word that meant everything now.  “Mate.”  
  
His body tensed as Jensen’s breath caught in his throat.  He could feel the adoration, feel the love and warmth that Jensen felt for Jared and he knew that Jensen could feel the same from him.  _Dragan_ mated for life, and even if Jared hadn’t been aware of what they were before, he knew now.  He could feel Jensen’s pleasure, could feel it as he thrust up again.  Jensen grabbed for his hand and pulled it around until Jared was pressing his hands to the small of Jensen’s back.  It wasn’t the soft warm skin he was used to, but a small cool trail of scales that he knew would be green if he could see them.  Jensen closed his eyes, but only for a moment at the brush of Jared’s fingers over the textured flesh.  When he opened them, his green eyes were replaced with _dragan_ eyes; yellow cat like irises that fell into green where the human whites had once been.  When Jensen’s hips pressed in one last time, head thrown back, a roar erupted from his lips as he came inside Jared.  Jared pulled him tighter, passion and love and pleasure filling him so hard and so deep he followed Jensen over the edge, painting their stomachs in thick stripes of white.  
  
He tried to catch his breath, to stop his body from shaking, but then Jensen was looking down at him, green _dragan_ eyes watching him as he slowly leaned closer.  He was giving Jared the time to pull away, but Jared pushed up, meeting him halfway, kissing him until they were both shaking.  
  
Jensen broke the kiss, pressing his forehead against Jared’s.  “Damn it, Jared, are you trying to kill me?”  
  
“If this is how you kill a _dragan_ , I might just get back into the family business,” he teased, wrapping his arms more closely around his lover.  
  
Jensen pulled away, pulling out of his body slowly, before returning back to Jared’s arms.  Jared let his fingers trail down Jensen’s scaly spine and felt him shiver at the touch.  “Does it hurt?”  
  
Jensen snorted into his neck.  “No.  It’s just … sensitive.  I’ve always been really careful.  I don’t let anyone touch,”  
  
Jared did it again and watched as it stopped Jensen mid sentence.  He smirked down at him.  “You like it,” He said smugly.          
  
Jensen let out a raspy breath.  “Yeah, I do.  As good as I am at hiding my form, there are certain times when I can’t control it all,” he said softly.  “When we’re … intimate I guess … not just sex but things like sharing a bed … I can’t seem to keep my spine from showing.”  
  
Jared reached down and tipped Jensen’s face up to look at him.  It would take a little while for Jared to get used to looking at his lover’s eyes in this form, but he was beautiful like that.  He looked more natural somehow, stronger, more wild, and Jared had never felt more content and he knew it was coming from his mate.  
  
“So how does this work?” When Jensen’s brow furrowed Jared continued on.  “This bond?  Being mated?  I know what the _Sealgaire_ tell of it but nothing real.”  
  
“I didn’t mean for that to happen, Jared.”  
  
Jared nodded.  “I know.”  
  
Jensen seemed to find comfort in that.  “What do you know of mating?”  
  
Jared looked up at the ceiling of the cave, not sure how true some of his teachings were.  He’d never believed a lot of what he’d been taught but he had to tell Jensen, no matter how it might offend him.  “The bond between mates is for life.  If you kill a mated _dragan_ , its mate will die as well.  _Dragan_ _s_ don’t have a choice in the bond.  It’s forced on them by their own nature to maintain the flight hierarchy, and most mates remain as removed from one another as possible when they are in human form.  There is a strong degree of telepathy between mates and it’s dangerous to fight a mated pair because they can attack as one.”  
  
“We don’t die because you kill our mate,” Jensen broke the silence between them with soft words, “we die trying to heal them.  We can sometimes, so if the bond is strong enough or close enough, the healthy _dragan_ will give up their very life trying.”  
  
“Damn.”  
  
Jensen let out a short, bitter laugh.  “Yeah.  Close bonds, being too intimate, too caught up in one another, it’s why we tend to stay away in human form.  It’s harder to maintain control when we’re already focused on retaining our bodies.”  
  
“What do you mean?”  
  
Jensen sat up on one elbow and Jared looked up from the bed, watching the way Jensen bit his lower lip.  “The bond between us will be strong.  I could feel things from you even before you accepted it, and among Green that is rare.  We bond hard and fast and we can’t … we don’t separate easily so we tend to separate permanently if the bond is exceptionally close.  Already, I can feel your thoughts, feel your concerns and you aren’t even _dragan_.  I don’t know how it will work between us, none of my kind has ever bonded to a human before, but I could get lost in you, Jared,” he admitted as he stared down into Jared’s eyes.  “I could lose years right here, just looking at you, touching you.”  Jensen’s voice was thicker now, gravel deep that sounded almost like a growl.   
  
“I might get hungry sometime in there,” Jared tried to lighten the mood because Jensen’s intensity was frightening.  
  
Jensen swallowed hard and Jared felt it too, the pounding of his heart in his chest, the way he needed to touch and be touched.   
  
“Do it, please,” Jensen begged.  “Fuck,” he gasped as Jared pressed his hands against his spine.  “Need you to touch me.  We don’t do well without touch but I could never let go enough to just… let humans close.”    
  
“Until me,” Jared said, pulling Jensen down onto his chest.  
  
“Yeah.  You just wouldn’t stop touching me and I thought I was gonna go mad half the time, wanting you to stop so you would never know what I was and needing you to be closer at the same time, to do more.”  
  
“Fuck yeah,” Jared said as he rolled them over.  He manhandled Jensen until he got him on his stomach and he could see the thin green scales that started to show right in the center of his shoulder blades.  The trail grew wider until it was almost spanning the center of his back and then faded again until there was barely a sliver of it that slipped down between his cheeks.   
  
Jensen’s whole body was pressed into the mattress and Jared could feel his need.  He let his hand run over the top of his shoulders before he leaned forward, one hand on either side of Jensen’s body as he pressed his lips to his green scales.  Jensen’s moan vibrated through his chest and Jared smiled into his skin. “Oh, I’m just getting started.”  
  
He let his lips linger there a moment at the small tip of Jensen’s green spine, then let his tongue and mouth trail a path down, working towards the outer edges of his scales before moving across to the other side.  The scales were cool in comparison to Jensen’s skin but not unpleasantly so.  He’d always associated Jensen with this sort of spicy, leathery scent and it was stronger now, enough that he buried his nose against the scales and inhaled deeply.  Jensen’s hips pressed down into the mattress and he realized he was thrusting into it.   
  
He picked up his pace a little more, following the green line.  He used his hands to pull Jensen’s cheeks apart and let his tongue trail down past the final edge of scales and then lapped at Jensen’s hole with the flat of his tongue.   
  
“Jay,” Jensen gasped even as he was angling his hips to give him better access.  
  
Jared continued to lick over his pucker, getting him good and wet before he finally used the tip of his tongue to circle the tight ring of muscle.  Jensen was moaning though and as much as he wanted to hold out, he needed to taste Jensen, to open him with his tongue and fingers and see him fall apart from just this alone.   
  
He pressed in with his tongue, Jensen’s body just taking him in nice and easy.  He couldn’t tell if Jensen was moaning because Jared was practically vibrating with his own sounds, the need to taste and take and fill Jensen was more intense than anything else he’d ever experienced.  
  
He fucked his tongue in and out, adding a finger moments later.   
  
“Fuck yeah,” he finally heard Jensen again, “more Jay.  Come on, want more.”  
  
He pressed a second finger inside Jensen, stretching him, licking inside and out as his mate pushed back up into him.  It was too fucking good and he could feel his own orgasm coming quick.  He realized it was Jensen’s, that the bond was echoing this between them and he brought his lips up, trailing them over his lower back as he pressed a third finger in.  He leaned up, resting his body against Jensen’s, only one hand holding him upright as the other continued to fuck into his lover.  “Gonna come for me Jen, just like this on my fingers?  Just my fingers fucking your ass as I lick my way up your spine?”  
  
He bit down hard at the top of Jensen’s green scaly spine and Jensen’s head was thrown back, his orgasm shattering him.  Jared’s cock spilled as well, his come covering Jensen’s back as he came with his mate.   
  
Jared tried to hold himself up, but in the end he barely managed to slide to the side of Jensen, one knee draped between Jensen’s spread legs, his softening cock pressed to his side as he rested his head on the back of Jensen’s shoulder.  They both lay there, catching their breath, stilling the pounding of their hearts for a while.  
  
When he had enough breath, he pressed his lips to Jensen’s shoulder, running a finger up his spine.  
  
“Damn it, Jared, stop that,” Jensen mumbled.  His head was buried in his arms, but Jared could see the corner of his lips turned up in a smile.   
  
“I think I could do this forever,” Jared said softly, content to be where he was.  He knew it couldn’t last, knew that out there in the real world his family was waiting, that Jensen’s flight was waiting, but in the here and now he didn’t care about any of that.  
  
“Yeah,” Jensen turned his head to look at Jared, _dragan_ green eyes slowly fading back to the human green he’d fallen in love with.  “Yeah, it feels that way, doesn’t it?”  
  


 

 

 

  
  
  
In the end, they stayed there a few hours longer, not leaving the cave again until nightfall.  Neither felt confident returning back to the dorm so Jensen borrowed Jared’s cell phone to call Chris.  Their friend didn’t ask any questions, just headed over to the dorms to grab some of their things for them and meet them in a deserted corner of campus.   
  
He felt bad about forcing Jensen from his home because of his family and he tried to find a way to express that but something else entirely came from his mouth.  “What happened to your cell?”  He asked.    
  
Jensen smiled.  “It’s not like I had time to stash my things before I jumped off the cliff, Jared.”  
  
“Do you normally?”  
  
“Yeah.  When I need to get away from people I bring a back pack, strip and put everything in it and just grab it and take it with me.  I didn’t have time today though.”  
  
“Guess I owe you a new phone.”  
  
“Three, actually.”  
  
“What?”  
  
“Well I almost got caught a few years back.  My flight, they were trying to live among humans and they weren’t doing too well.  They touched too much to make people comfortable.  I don’t know if everyone was part of it, but I saw one of the _Sealgaire_ in town there.  There was a chase and another cliff.  It was when I realized that the others couldn’t be like me, that they couldn’t fit in.  I decided then to go to college and leave them behind.  The other time…”  
  
Jensen trailed off, turning to look out the mouth of the cave and Jared could feel his unease.  “What?” he asked, stepping closer to his mate, letting his chest press against Jensen’s back, his body giving comfort in a way he now knew Jensen craved.  
     
“When I saw your scar.  I went to the field to try to calm down and I thought if I couldn’t I would just fly up here.  Only I got more and more worked up and I couldn’t calm down and I just threw myself over.  I was lost.  I couldn’t get around the fact that you were a hunter, that you were gonna find out and hate me for forcing this on you.”  
  
“Did you?”  
  
Jensen looked over his shoulder and shook his head.  “We don’t choose, it just happens.  I would have chosen you though, before I knew, if I could.”  
  
“And now?”  
  
“I do choose you.  I left my Queen surrounded by _Sealgaire_ to jump off a cliff with you.  You don’t know what that means to us.”  
  
“You’re Green.  You’re loyal to your flight, the fiercest defender and I made you choose between fighting alongside your Queen, or leaving her behind, because if it wasn’t me you’d have stood against them.  If they weren’t my family, you’d have stayed to kill them all.”  
  
“I don’t want to fight this battle, Jared.”  
  
Jared took a deep breath because as much as he wanted to protect his family, he knew that this was something they brought on themselves.  He and Jensen were caught in the middle of a war neither of them wanted.  
  
“We left the old world to get away from it all.  They should have just left us alone.”  
  
Jared nodded his agreement but he couldn’t say the words.  They would be a lie.  Maybe his people should have left the _dragan_ alone, but if they hadn’t, he’d have never met Jensen and he’d never have a mate.   
  
“We’ll find a way to make them see,” Jared said instead.  The lie sounded almost true.  
  
“You don’t believe that.”  
  
“No, I don’t, but I will never give you up.”  
  
Jensen turned and looked up at him, the _dragan_ coming to surface in his eyes.  He watched the green bleed through and thought, not for the first time, that Jensen was the most beautiful creature to grace the earth, in human or _dragan_ form.  
  
Jensen smiled and pressed his lips to Jared’s.  “Stand back and keep your eyes turned so you don’t get blinded,” he said as he gave Jared a playful push away.  “And you’d better start thinking.  You’ve got the flight to come up with a good reason why I’m going to be naked when Chris comes to meet us in the park.”  
  
The flash of light was nearly blinding even with his eyes closed, and when he looked up Jensen stood before him, a green _dragan_ , proud and regal.  He stepped forward, touching just under the large eye that was lowered to his height.  He walked down the side and looked at Jensen, really paying attention now.  Before, he would have just said he was a solid shade of green, but he would have been far off the mark.  Overall his hide was a dark hunter green, but his haunches were lighter, with striations of dark and light green on his wings, where the tips were almost black.  There were white scars on his right wing and Jared nearly panicked as he made his way to the other side quickly to see if there were more.  Just the one set of scars and that made Jared breathe a little easier.  He leaned his head against Jensen’s side and closed his eyes, resting there for a minute.  He knew it was foolish, that Jensen could take care of himself better than Jared could, but that didn’t make him worry less about his mate.  It didn’t break the need to protect him.  
  
He felt a nudge and looked up to see Jensen looked back at him, his wing delicately pressing Jared closer.  He laughed slightly, letting out a shaky sigh.  “Yeah, I’m alright.  God, you really are touchy feely, aren’t you?”  He gave Jensen’s side a rough pat before stepping back.  “Alright, let’s get out of here.”  
  
 

 

 

No one seemed to notice anything different.  Jared and Jensen kept asking to meet their friends in odd locations that they’d never been before, saying they were tired of the same old hang outs.  No one knew they were staying with Chris and Steve, but the two friends, after getting a short explanation that Jared’s family was borrowing their dorm, never said anything about it.  They seemed to know that Jared and Jensen needed to keep to themselves.   
  
Chad called Jared two days later, letting him know that he was pretty sure his family was following him around.  He asked what had happened, but Jared didn’t tell him and Chad was smart enough to get the point.   
     
Things had been tense, but after two weeks they figured they were probably safe for the time being.  Wherever Jared’s family had gone they weren’t stalking anyone so he hoped maybe they had decided not to take on the Queen after all.  Summer was on them, most of their friends getting ready to leave campus in the next few days and Jensen had already found them an apartment for the next year.  They were going to live off campus, someplace his family would never think to look, hoping that maybe they’d find a way to just avoid the whole damn fight.  
  
“I shouldn’t have come,” Jensen said softly in his ear.  “I feel exposed.”  
  
“See that cliff?”  Jared said, pointing to the same cliff they’d jumped over together when his parents had shown up at the last meeting.  “Something goes south, it’s still you and me and a cave with our name on it.  It’s all I need.”  
  
Jensen snorted into his neck but he was smiling instead of looking so hesitantly at their friends.  The picnic table was decorated with a pink and purple My Little Pony tablecloth with presents on one end and food filling the rest, matching streamers hung all around the fence and surrounding trees.  
  
“I think Chad TP’ed the trees in streamer,” Jared said as he took Jensen’s hand.  
  
“That’s the only thing that would explain why Erica’s birthday party looks like a kid’s party threw up all over our clearing.”  
  
Jared laughed as they moved over to the table, handing Erica their present, a gift card from her favorite store in the mall, and taking a seat at the end of the table.  Jensen sat beside him, tucked protectively between him and Chris.  He could see Jensen’s slight smile at it, could feel the amusement in their bond at the idea of Jared protecting him, but he took the seat without comment, simply slipping into the comfort of their friend’s conversations.  
  
  
The party was almost over and Jared was sitting by the presents, his legs straddling the bench with Jensen between his legs.  Most of their friends were gone, leaving Chad, Chris, Steve, Erica, and Mandy to clean up the mess.  Jensen was trying to convince Erica to eat the last piece of cake instead of cleaning since it was her birthday, but she was laughing and teasing and they were all high on the end of the quarter rush that hit right after finals.  
  
Chris was mid laugh when his eyes went wide, sitting across from Jared and Jensen, telling a story about Jensen’s first hall crawl.  Jensen went stock still and Jared knew without looking what it was.  He looked over his mate’s shoulder and saw his family standing there.  There was no pretense this time, no pretending to be anything than what they were.  Hunters, weapons visible as they stared at Jensen and Jared.  
  
“Oh my god,” he heard Erica’s gasp but that was all the attention he could pay to his friends.  He got up out of his seat, putting his body between Jensen and the _Sealgaire_.  
  
“Jared, you can’t stand against us forever,” his father’s voice was sad and it made Jared want to step forward and close the distance that had grown between them.  They had always loved one another, they just didn’t believe in the same things.  It made the distance harder to bear, but Jensen was behind him, his lover, his mate, in the back of his head, fear and anger, possessive jealousy streaking through it all with an undercurrent of pure unadulterated love.    
  
“He’s my mate,” Jared said, not caring about their friends or anyone else that might hear.  “He’s mine and I’m his.  I’ll die to protect him.”  
  
He felt the growl that emanated behind him, could feel the vibration of it against his back and then Jensen was turning around.  Jared looked over his shoulder and saw the Queen coming forward, her eyes blazing gold.   
  
He felt indecision warring in him, but Jensen was always the calm one, the one to take the lead.  “Chris, get the hell out of here.  Take everyone and get the hell out.”  
  
“Don’t know what sort of trouble you boys are in, but I ain’t leaving you to it.”  
  
Jared could have kissed him except that he was worried about his friends.  He didn’t have a way to protect them.   
  
“My Queen, please, take them away,” he thought Jensen was talking about their friends, but the pleading tone was more than that and he looked to see another two _dragan_ standing on either side of the Queen.  “We don’t have to do this.”  
  
“I told you before, Jensen, I will not let them kill you.  You will return with us, be with us like you were meant to be.”  
  
“Jen,” he could feel his mate’s heart breaking, could feel the turmoil and pain and he didn’t want to be a part of it.  If loving Jensen meant he had to hurt him, then he’d do it alone, silent and from afar, to let Jensen be with his kind.   
  
“No!” Jensen yelled at her, cutting Jared off before he could say anything more.  “He is my mate and I will not leave him, not for you and not for them!”   
  
He was distracted by the feel of Jensen then, something wild passing through the bond between them and he knew that the _dragan_ was coming through.  He took a deep breath, trying to use his own steady presence to calm Jensen.   
  
It felt too much like déjà vu and Jared wanted to kick himself for thinking they were safe just because his family had been gone for two weeks.  They had probably been waiting for him to come out, maybe trailing Chad and their circle of friends until they stumbled upon this gathering.  He looked at his family, his father stood to the front with both uncles at his side.  Jared mother was in the back with Jeff looking pained to be a part of it all.   
  
“Please,” he begged them.  “Don’t do this.  You can’t fight four _dragan_.”  
  
His mother stepped forward and there was so much sorrow in her eyes that Jared stepped back, pressing closer to Jensen.   
  
“We’ll let them all go Jared, we’ll let them fly away right now without hunting them again,” she said softly.  He knew better than to trust that voice though.  It was the one that punished and told bad news, taught lessons and dispensed justice in their family.  “We only want the Green.”  
  
He tried to say no but the breath was knocked out of him by her words.  He could feel Jensen behind him, feel him turn until his chest was pressed into Jared’s back, his hand clenching at the scar on his hip.  
  
“He’s done this to you.  He’s corrupted you and used their filthy bond to make you leave us.  Who knows how long he’s been pulling you away, little by little.  Think Jared!  You know they don’t age like humans!  He’s _dragan_!  He forced a bond on you and we will break it with his death!”  
  
The Queen hissed behind them and Jared couldn’t agree more.  “No!  If you kill him, you kill me.”  
  
“Am I going crazy or did someone call Jensen a dragon?”  
  
Jared took his eyes away from his family for a minute to look at his friends, all gathered around the far side of the table.  Jensen turned to look with him and he heard the gasp as they saw Jensen’s eyes, the _dragan_ peering out at them through a familiar face.  
  
“Holy hell,” Chris muttered softly.  
  
“Yes,” Jared said softly.  “He’s a dragon and I’m a dragon hunter but he’s my mate and that’s all that matters now.”  
  
“Shit, and I thought I had problems with my boyfriend,” Mandy whispered.    
  
“It’s true, isn’t it?  You mean that?”  He turned the other way to see the Queen approaching.  She kept herself closer to Jensen, whether to convince Jensen that she wouldn’t attack Jared or to keep Jared between her and the _Sealgaire_ he didn’t know.  “Jensen?”  
  
Jensen nodded.  “He is my mate.”  
  
Jared knew he’d said it at their last meeting but that was before.  As much as he knew the bond had formed earlier than that, his acceptance made it that much stronger and the Queen hissed softly at the announcement.  “You would die for him?” she asked.  
  
Jared knew she was asking for something specific and Jensen was still at his side, as if this were a test that Jared had no way of passing.  “Yes,” he answered with conviction, “he is my mate.  My life is forfeit to ash and dust when he can no longer bless the sky.”  It felt formal, stiff and somehow binding in ways nothing else had.   
  
Jensen took a step back, looking up at Jared, his eyes full of something that the bond couldn’t even explain.  “Did I fail the test?” he asked, giving a soft smile and hoping Jensen would return it.  
  
Jensen shook his head, his face more serious than Jared had ever seen him.  “No, Jared.  You passed with flying colors.  You shouldn’t have, but you did.”  
  
“Well, you know, I study a lot.”  
  
It took a moment but then Jensen was smiling slightly.  “Dragonology does not count as studying.”  
  
“Does too.”  
  
Jared didn’t care that everyone was still there, watching them, gaping at them like they were alien.  He stepped closer and brought his hand up to Jensen’s face.  His lover leaned into the touch lightly and then his eyes were bleeding back to normal, the _dragan_ calm under his skin.   
  
“No!” He heard his uncle yell and it was only instinct that moved him in front of Jensen, in front of the throwing knife that his uncle was so good with.  He felt the blade hit home, Jensen’s eyes wide in shock, green bleeding through as he tried to catch Jared as he fell to his knees.  They both stumbled over and he felt the drugs coursing through his system, poison too strong for a human, a perfect drug for a _dragan_ though.   
  
“Fight for me Jared,” he heard Jensen whisper into his ear as the darkness tried to take over.  “It works both ways.  If they kill you, they kill me too.”  
  
Jensen held him up, held him tight, and he could hear the echo of his _dragan_ _’s_ screams as he roared it out to the night air, taking his last conscious thought with it.  
  


 

 

 

  
‘This isn’t our cave,’ was the first thought Jared had as he woke up, staring at the cavern ceiling above him.  It was too polished, too used.  It was the sort of place he’d expect to find a _dragan_ , which was why Jensen seemed drawn to rougher territories in his flights.   
  
“Jen?” The bond was indistinct, fuzzy as if muffled by something and he sat up, wincing at the pain in his head.  “Jensen!” he yelled.  
  
“He’s right beside you.”  
  
He ignored the voice for a moment, turning to his other side to see his mate close by, his face almost angelic in sleep.   
  
“He was exhausted but he wouldn’t stop until you were safe,” his mother said.  “He … he saved your life.”  
  
“What are you doing here?” Jared asked sharply.  His head was killing him and his uncle had poisoned him and the last thing he wanted to deal with was his family.  But his mother was there, in a _dragan_ cave, watching over him and his _dragan_ lover as they slept.  There was a whole lot wrong with that picture.  
  
“We called a truce, Jared.”  
  
“What?”  
  
“Your uncles have remained back at your school, but after you were hurt, Jensen said he could heal you.  The Queen fought with him but he said your bond was strong enough and that he could heal you.”  
  
“Idiot.  He knows better.”  
  
“He’d die without you Jared, if you truly are mated as you say.”  
  
“No, he wouldn’t.  He could live without me, Mom,” Jared explained.  “He wouldn’t, there’s a difference.  He was going to heal me or give his last breath trying.  He chose me.”  He felt oddly light headed at the thought, at knowing that Jensen had risked his life to heal him.   
  
“That’s not… that’s not what the _Sealgaire_ know of them.”  
  
“Did you ever ask?”   
  
“Of course not,” his mother answered quickly.  “They’re beasts; they don’t care about anything but their own kind.”  
  
“This beast takes offense to that.”  
  
Jared spun so fast his head pulsed and he gasped as Jensen’s fingers came up to his shoulder, steadying him.  “Take it easy.  You haven’t been asleep long enough to be dealing with this.”  
  
“Me?  What were you thinking Jensen?  You could have gotten yourself killed!”  
  
Jensen’s face became serious.  “You nearly did get yourself killed.  Jesus, Jared, next time let me take the hit.  I can transform.  My body can take the poison better than yours can!”  
  
Jared pressed his lips to Jensen’s, silencing him for a moment, then he let his forehead rest on his mate’s.  “So how about I promise not to get poisoned again and you promise not to do that again?”  
  
“Damn straight!” They both looked up to see Chris pushing through the fabric curtain that separated the room from the main chamber.   
  
“Are the others alright?” Jared asked immediately.  “What happened?”  
  
“The Queen, after we agreed to let Jensen try to save you, she allowed us to come see you.  Jeff and your father are here as well, though the Queen did not trust them to sit in the room with Jensen.”  
  
“She didn’t know you were better with a dagger than them,” Jared said with a shake of his head.  
  
“She knew the pain I was feeling.”  
  
“Don’t, Mom.  You were going to kill Jensen to ‘break me’ from the bond.  You were going to kill me!”  
  
“We thought … I thought … if you knew we were serious that you would come home, that you would stop this nonsense and we could be a family again.”  
  
“Well he don’t need you,” Chris said, coming up to the end of the bed and sitting on it.  Chad and the others came in, all filing in behind Chris.  “We’re his family now.”  
  
He could feel Jensen’s amusement but there was something uncomfortable underneath it all.  He turned his back to the others and looked at Jensen.  
  
“We figured if your family was here, we might as well extend the invitation to the whole group.  It’s not like they hadn’t seen everything anyway.  Chad barely left your side.  Jeff has been in off and on too, but your mom is right about the Queen.  She wouldn’t let your father in here while I was vulnerable and I’m not going anywhere.”  
  
“Don’t want you to,” Jared admitted, then sighed at the chorus of “awwwww”s from Ericka and Mandy.  “I’m never living this down am I?”  
  
“You?  Do you know how bad they’re trying to beat me up for making them take flights home for the holidays?”  
  
Jared laughed but he looked over at his friends.  “Trust me, it’s a really cold way to fly.  Not very comfortable.”  
  
“You’ve flown with a dragon?  That’s cool, dude.”  
  
Jared looked up at Jensen and smiled.  “Yeah, it really is.”  


 

 

 

  
The next day Jared woke up feeling fine.  The bed was still warm on Jensen’s side so he couldn’t have been up long so Jared decided to find him.  He got out of the bed, dressed, and made his way into the next room.  His friends were sitting at one long table with the _dragan_ , though Steve and Chris were shooting Jensen odd looks as he talked with the others.  To his surprise, Chad was sitting with his parents at a separate table and his brother was actually talking to the _dragan_.    
  
His mother came over to him before he could decide who to talk to.  He’d come out looking for his mate, but with so much going on, he didn’t know what to do.  
  
“Jared, we’re leaving this morning.  We just wanted to see if you were going to be okay before we asked them to fly us back to your school.”  
  
“And then what Mom?” he asked.  
  
“We have a lot of thinking to do, Jared, but this isn’t what we came to the new world to be.  The _dragan_ are dangerous, my son.  Perhaps this flight has learned to curtail its baser ways, but they are a rarity.  We still have a purpose.”  
  
“Jensen says there are no other flights in the new world.”  
  
“I know.  So we will be leaving soon, to return to our forefathers.  We’ll decide where we’re best needed there.  The fight is still strong, _dragan_ stealing people and crops and destroying what they have no right to.  The new world is, I think, meant for the young and we cannot keep up with her changing ways.”  
  
Jared’s mouth hung open and she smiled, leaning up to kiss him softly on his cheek.  “I cannot love them, Jared, not with everything we have been through, but I can think more kindly on him for loving you the way he does.”  
  
She walked away without letting him say anything else and he knew that it was the last conversation he would have with her for a long while.  
  
“Are you alright?”  Jensen asked as he looked back over at Jared’s mother.  
  
Jared sighed as he reached out for Jensen, pulling him close.  He let his hands run down Jensen’s back and felt him shiver.  He let out a small laugh.  “Yeah, I’ll be okay.  It’s a lot to take in.  I don’t know if she’s right about the _dragan_ in the old world, but at least I know you’ll be safe now and I can live with that.”  
  
Jensen nodded.  “She asked me to take care of you.  I told her I was doing my best and I think she almost smiled at me.  I think she likes me.”  
  
Jared kissed the top of his head, looking away from his mother to the rest of his friends.  “She will learn to love you, Jen, its impossible not to.”  
  
“Not much of a chance.  They asked me to take them down now.”  
  
“Thank you for doing that.  I trust you with them.”  
  
“That’s the only reason I’m doing it.”  
  
They all walked into the outer cavern and Jensen didn’t shy away from stripping his clothes off much to Ericka and Mandy’s approval. The blinding light was easier to take as he got used to it and he didn’t hesitate to run his fingers over Jensen’s green hide.  
  
His friends were hanging back and Jared could see the way Chris and Steve were watching him, could feel the disappointment from Jensen that they were having such a hard time dealing with all of it.   
  
“Hey Jen, you can start a fire right?” he asked, already knowing that the greens had a strong flame.  His mate shot out a small stream and Jared laughed.  “Hey Chris!  You and Steve don’t stop looking at him like he’s about to eat you and I’ll tell my mate to barbeque you just on principle!”  
  
Chris’s mouth dropped open as did the Queen’s.  Steve looked at him for a second though and a smile cracked his face.  He started to chuckle and then reached a full fledged laugh.  Chris looked between them, and then he started as well.  Their friends joined in, and he could feel Jensen’s mirth as he blew a ring of smoke at the others.   
  
“It’s time to go.”  
  
Jared looked back at his father and mother, nodding.  His mother gave a watery smile, though she didn’t shed any tears.  He knew better than to expect it, just like he knew well enough that she would shed those tears in private.  His father’s embrace was a surprise but he clung to him for a moment, like he once had as a child, enjoying the feeling of safety his father had always portrayed for him.   
  
“Take care of yourself, Jared.  We’ll be in touch when we decide where to settle next.”  He looked over Jared’s shoulder and nodded.  “Take care of your brother also.  He always understood you best.  At least this way, if there are any nasty _dragan_ in the vicinity, you and your brother know how to handle it.”  
  
Jared would probably have rolled his eyes at his father’s continued need to make him into a hunter, but he was too surprised by the knowledge that his brother was staying.  He shook his head and looked back to where his brother was sitting in close conversation with a red _dragan_.  It felt good to have his brother there with him.  The truth was, if there was a _dragan_ killing people Jared would probably have to look into it.  He felt it was his duty, but maybe with Jeff beside him he could deal with it in ways his father never thought of.  He had Jensen now; he had ways in if another flight was ever found.  The compromise of that would have to be enough between him and his father.  It was more than they’d had in years.  
  
“Take care of yourself, Dad.  And Mom and the uncles too.”  
  
His father grinned and then looked back at the _dragan_ behind him.  He turned to look at Jensen and Jensen moved his head until his one eye was regarding Jared’s father.  “You took care of him this time, _dragan_.  See that you continue.  This truce is for him.  So long as you treat him right, we’ll hold our swords.  If he’s hurt though, it will be your head I come hunting.”  
  
Jared wanted to admonish his father but he could feel something from Jensen that he didn’t expect.  Acceptance tinged with respect.  Jensen was taking the hunter’s word for it and he intended to live up to that bargain.   
  
“He heard you, Dad,” Jared said softly as he reached out and patted Jensen’s neck.   
  
“It’s time to be off then.”  
  
Jared stepped back and watched as his mate reared up on his haunches and laid both his front claws on the ground.  His father and mother both stepped inside one.  Jensen wrapped them up tight then before making a very ungraceful waddle to the cave entrance before jumping off.  Jared ran to the front of the cave, seeing the moment when Jensen’s wings snapped open and caught the current.   
  
“He’s beautiful,” he said softly, taking in the first sight of his lover in his natural form as he flew across the sky.  
  
“He is.”  
  
He heard the Queen’s soft voice from where she was standing slightly behind him, watching the sight the same as he was.  “You’re worried,” he realized.  He was astonished to realize it wasn’t a guess, but that he could feel it from her.  “My family won’t betray him like that.  They might have been outnumbered here, but they’d have died to try to kill you if that was their intent.  They wouldn’t have lied about a truce.”  
  
She turned her golden eyes to him and nodded.  “He was allowed to bring them here because you knew this, because he believed that anyone you trusted that much deserved to be trusted.  It does not mean they have earned my trust yet though.  He will come home safe for us tonight, though, of that I am certain.”  
  
Jared nodded.  He wasn’t sure what else to say.  He’d never had the opportunity to speak to her before and he knew at one point at least, she’d disapproved of his relationship with Jensen.  She settled it though, by coming up to him and wrapping her arms around him.  He signed heavily as he settled into the wall and held her close.  
  
“Are you all so touchy feely?” he asked.  
  
She laughed lightly.  “Yes.  It gives us great comfort.  I don’t think you object too much.”  
  
“No, I’m kinda fond of it myself.”  
  
He felt her stiffen against him and he realized her hands had come up under his shirt and found his scar.  He panicked for a second, his mind swimming with the images of Jensen running from him, but then remembered that it wasn’t a secret from her.  She pulled his shirt up so she could look at it, then unsnapped his pants and pushed them down far enough to see the largest part of the scar.           
“How did it happen?” she asked.  
  
“Jared?”  He looked up and saw Jeff there, with his friends and the other _dragan_ , a red named Jake and a blue named Matt.  He’d never shared the full story with anyone.  Her fingers brushed over the sensitive scar and he though of Jensen’s green spine and green eyes, both human and _dragan_.  Maybe it was the time to tell that tale after all.     
   

 

 

  
_Jared stood with his spear in hand, the long wooden base heavy but familiar in his grip.  He knew how to use it to kill, how to rip a creature apart with it, to use it to distract and scare and how to wound.  He’d never done it before, but that was the whole point of the day.  His first hunt.  His family was buzzing with the excitement of it but all Jared really wanted to do was go back to the house and play video games.  He knew his family history, knew how important it was to kill_ dragan _, but it wasn’t like there were a lot of them anymore.  Sure they had them in the old world, and how he hated saying that, like they were stuck in the past without a proper frame of reference to give the world real names, but the new world, again with the titles, was remarkably clean of_ dragan _.  There had been more in the beginning but it was becoming less and less frequent.  It was probably why he was going on his first hunt a little earlier than usual.  Still, he was eleven years old and while the ritual usually took place at twelve, he figured they were worried another hunt wouldn’t come along.  He was old enough though, and talented enough to handle himself.  
  
That was all before he got lost though.   
  
He stared at the cavern, fascinated by the play of light over the different veins of metal and ores.  His father had told him once that _ dragan _like to live in caverns that seemed to sparkle.  His mother said it was like having paintings in the room.  His father hadn’t liked their living room being compared with a_ dragan’s _but it was a good fit for the idea and even as Jared noted the different colors of quartz that ran through the rock, he realized he’d found someplace worth calling home.  
  
A noise to the left had him spinning fast, only to find himself standing before a taller boy.  Jared didn’t know him, and it meant only one thing.  “_ Dragan _,” he hissed.  
  
The boy was older than him and at Jared’s words, his green eyes turned draconic, the demon yellow taking over the more human irises.  “Yes.  You’re _ Sealgaire _.”  
  
The boy seemed curious, not hateful and Jared didn’t understand that at all.  Everything he’d been taught said the _ dragan _would want to hurt him.  
  
“The Queen will be back soon.  She’ll be really upset if you’re still here when she gets back.”  
  
“I don’t care how mad your Mom is,” Jared said, feeling unsure.  
  
“Not my Mom, just the Queen.”  
  
There was something that sounded like pain in his voice, but Jared knew it probably wasn’t.  His father had told him how smart a _ dragan _could be.  “What happened to your Mom?” he asked anyway before he could stop himself.  
  
 “What always happens to _ dragan _?”  The_ dragan _asked with a shrug. “_ Sealgaire _.”  
  
Jared didn’t know what to say to that but when the boy walked over,  took a seat in the back of the cavern and pulled out a small square of fabric and set stones on it, Jared settled down to look at it.  
  
“What is that?” he asked.  
  
“Stones. You know how to play, right?”  
  
“Um, no.”  
  
“That’s alright.  I haven’t played in ages.  Everyone here is too old to play games.”  
  
Jared knelt down and listened as the _ dragan _explained the rules and then they were playing one another, Jared and the other boy laughing and teasing back and forth.  He didn’t think about his family or what they’d come for, just enjoyed the pleasure of the stones and his new friend.  He wished_ dragans _had names, but he figured it was enough to think of him as his new friend even if he didn’t have a name.  
  
It wasn’t until he saw the massive shadow from behind that he realized how long he’d been there, and that he’d been stupid to forget.  Jared reached for his spear as the Queen came into the cavern, spinning around first to look at the child before him and then to watch the Queen.  She was as beautiful as he’d always thought a _ dragan _should be.  She was rearing up though, her claws snapping at him.  Only the_ dragan _child’s fast reflexes had saved him, pushing him to the ground right as her claws would have ripped through flesh.  
  
He wasn’t so lucky when her jaws closed around him.  He felt teeth ripping into his flesh and pain bloomed in his mind but he let go of his spear, not longer caring about that anymore.  He wanted his friend who’d tried to protect him.  “_ Dragan _!” he shouted as loud as he could.  
  
His friend was there, green-eyed and screaming up at the Queen.  She shook Jared hard and threw him across the room, but when she went to attack, the child was in front of him again, his arms raised up.  Jared couldn’t hear the words that were said through the ringing in his ears, and he knew he’d cracked his skull good on that landing, but the Queen stopped her approach.  Instead, she reared back and extended her claw.  The child stepped in slowly and then looked back at Jared.  When the Queen took off, the _ dragan _child watched him through the gap in her claws and his arm reached out for Jared.  
  
He tried to get up, tried to get back to his friend, but the Queen was carrying him away, forever.  
  
_

 

 

 

 

  
“My parents showed up a few seconds later.  They could still see the Queen in the distance.  They’d heard me shout _dragan_ and had come to find me, not knowing I wasn’t calling for their help, but his.”

Jared took a deep breath as he finished the story.  The others watched him in various states of amazement.  The Queen didn’t try to hide the tears that fell down her cheeks.  She pressed her palm to the scar and brought her lips to his neck, whispering against his skin, “I’m so sorry.”

He nodded, hearing the murmur when his friends and brother realized the Queen he had been speaking of was her.

“I didn’t know,” she continued.

Jared huffed softly.  “No, of course you didn’t.  I’ve looked back on it so many times, thinking how it must have looked to you.  You must have thought I was going to hurt him, and I never blamed you.  It was why we were there after all, but I could never do it.  I trained and I learned, but I never forgot that you didn’t kill me.  I never forgot those hours, playing stones with my family’s enemy.”

She smiled sadly.  “I saw you with Jensen when you first came to the school.  I liked to watch him from a distance, keep track of him when he didn’t know I was there.  I wondered why he let you so close when he’d managed to keep most of the others at bay.  If you had been _dragan_ , I would have known.”

“Known what?”

“That you had bonded already.  That you were already becoming his mate.”

“You couldn’t have known.  Hell, we didn’t figure it out until a lot later than that.”

She shook her head and pressed her lips to his to silence him.  “You don’t understand.”

They heard the sharp snap of wings and Jared looked up to see Jensen flying back into the cave.  Jared was already moving to his side when he flashed white.  He stumbled forward into Jared’s arms and got his balance again before stepping away from Jared and grabbing his pile of clothes.

He barely had his jeans tugged up when he realized everyone was quiet.

“What did I miss?” he asked.

Jared wasn’t sure what to say.  He didn’t understand what the Queen was trying to tell him.  He thought she might help him out a little more, but then Jeff was smiling politely at Jensen.

“Hey Jensen, you ever play stones?”

Jensen pulled his tee shirt over his head and looked over at Jared’s brother.  “Yeah.  I haven’t played it in years though.”

Jared took a step back, hitting his back on the wall.  He could feel Jensen’s confusion along the bond and knew that Jensen could feel his own turmoil.

“It was you.”

Jensen looked at him for a second, and then his back straightened, obviously figuring out what they were talking about.

The Queen wrapped her arms around Jensen’s waist but neither of them looked at her.  She pressed her lips to Jensen’s neck just as she had Jared’s.  “I did not know you were so lost.  I didn’t think a child of their kind could have that sort of power over you.”  Jensen looked down at her, something dark in his eyes.  “Why didn’t you tell me?” she asked.

“I was a child,” Jensen answered.  “I didn’t know what it meant.  It wasn’t until after, until…” he looked over at Jared and it was then he saw the way Jared’s shirt was still tucked oddly where his pants were still unbuttoned. 

Jared felt a desperate need to hear Jensen say it.

“When I found his scar I knew it was yours.  I knew he was the one.”

Jared pushed away from the wall, walking past them all.  He knew Jensen better than he knew anyone.  The room he’d woken in was Jensen’s own room when he stayed in the caves and it was the place he’d considered home before coming to college.  If it was anywhere, it was there.

He could hear the questions the others asked, but he ignored it, knowing that Jensen was close behind him. 

When he walked into the room he started looking through everything.  There wasn’t much there.  A pallet on the floor where a large, comfortable mattress rested.  A small chair and table where Jensen probably used to do homework.  “Where is it?”  Jared asked as he searched through a stack of books lying on the floor by the head of the bed.

Jensen hesitated inside the door a moment, but then he was on his knees at Jared’s side.  He reached under the mattress and pulled out a small bag.  He opened it and pulled out a square of fabric.  Jared let his fingers brush over the rough burlap and Jensen sighed softly.  “My father gave it to me.  He said it was easy to carry with you, unlike the bulky boards that some others made.  My mom used to play with me.  It reminded me of them so I kept trying to play but no one understood.  No one would play.  I was alone and I just wanted to remember my mom and they didn’t mean to, but it shut me out.”

“And I showed up.”

“And you played with me even when you shouldn’t.  And I had to leave you behind, leave it all, but I went back.  I found this still there, but what I really went back for was you.  I was looking for you the rest of my life, never able to find someone to understand me, because my heart had already found its mate.  I just didn’t know it.”

“The Queen…”

“If you had been a _dragan_ child she would have recognized the bond for what it was back then. You were so young, but I promised her that I would smother you with love,” he said softly as he brought one hand up to Jared’s cheek.  “If she’d find you for me, I’d love you better than anyone else.  I’d take care of you and protect you.  She could never find you though and I gave up hoping after a while.  I never forgot though.”

“And then I just walked through your door?  I’m not a big believer in fate, Jensen.”

Jensen smiled.  “Who said it was fate?  Maybe you and I were both looking for one another.  Maybe this bond that we didn’t understand was pulling us together.  Maybe you had to leave hunting and I had to leave my flight because we had to find each other.”

Jared pulled Jensen close, letting his lips run lightly over his mate’s.  “Lay with me?” he asked softly, needing to feel Jensen.  Jensen smiled as he pulled at Jared’s shirt until he had it off.  They stripped each other quickly and then Jared was on his back, Jensen’s head resting on his shoulder, one hand over his heart. 

“So what happens now?” Jared asked softly.

Jensen sighed.  “Your brother wants to look into school here.  You converted him to the college life, or maybe Mandy did, I’m not sure yet.  Chris and Steve are taking off tomorrow for the summer, though they’re living in the apartment next door to us next year, so we should be able to make them stop looking at me cross-eyed pretty quick.  We have a dorm room to clean out and an apartment to move into.”

“Wow, it sounds like you have it all planned.”

“Nah, that are just the facts.  My plan is to take care of you like I promised myself I would years ago.  And you’re going to take care of me.  Because that’s who we are.”

“The _Sealgaire_ and the _dragan_.  Who would have thought?” Jared asked with a smile.

Jensen laughed as he pressed a kiss to Jared’s lips.  “Yeah, the _Sealgaire_ and the _dragan_.  And we get the best possible ending.”

“What’s that?”

“Well, since I am a _dragan_ and this is a fairytale, I figure we get ‘and they lived happily ever after to the end of their days’.”

Jared laughed softly, delighted and kissed Jensen tenderly, letting his lips part for his mate.  It was a lazy kiss more for the pleasure of kissing than anything else and Jared sighed into Jensen’s mouth as they rested their foreheads together.

“Blessed be,” Jensen whispered to his mate.

Jared couldn’t help but feel the rush of affection as it struck him and he looked at Jensen, his hand on his mate’s cheek as he gave his thanks once again for the life he had.  “Blessed be.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

Character Concept by hunters_retreat

**Author's Note:**

> Author's Note: Thank you so much to everyone who has worked on this! It's been really amazing to have so much support! So thank you tot he mods for putting together the fantasybigbang , to all my betas who really kicked this into gear for me, and to my amazing artist and mixer! I am so excited to get to post this up finally! *hugs to you all*


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